In Another Life
by megamatt09
Summary: Many people never have a chance for a fresh start, but Harry Potter is going to make the most out of his. He meets someone who is trying to find her place in her brand new world and it snowballs from there. Reboot of the Emerald Flight Series.
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day, summer wasn't quite over, but the first hints of autumn could be felt with a crisp cool breeze. Yet, the beauty still remained with the leaves on the trees having not fallen down at this very moment.

A fancy sports car pulled up at the university parking lot but as nice as the car looked, the person driving it was the real attraction. Therefore, if anyone had bothered to commit the details of the sport's car to mind, they went out of their mind seconds after they saw this vision of beauty. With its sleek interior, powerful engine, and excellent make, they didn't make them like that anymore, that was one thing that they could take to the bank and deposit.

The blonde that exited the car was extremely beautiful, a specimen to say the least. Her short blonde hair hung to her shoulders, framing her gorgeous face. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, with a gorgeous smile upon her face that turned more than a few heads in her day. The blouse she wore covered a sizeable chest, and once could see that she had a flat toned stomach, with shapely hips, along with the perfect hour glass figure. Long shapely legs added to her body's features.

Her name was Karen Starr, she was on her way to Met-U, Metropolis University, to study Business Administration, at least that's what her Doctorate was going to be in. She was in position to run one of the key scientific research and development countries in Metropolis and perhaps in the world, so she needed the qualifications to be taken seriously. Otherwise, the Board of Directors would be on her like the vultures they were.

That being said, she was under analysis, her birth name being different. The reason for this was that she was not born on this planet. The nineteen year old female sighed as she approached the front doors of Metropolis University. It was the first day for her here.

Karen was born Kara Zor-L, and she lived on the planet Krypton for many years. The planet's core became unstable over time and it blew up, leaving her its sole survivor. She made her way to Earth over twenty years ago but she got stuck in stasis in her ship, freezing the dam. She landed outside of the Reeves Dam, where she was stuck, trapped for several years.

Until a team lead by Doctor Virgil Swann of STARR Labs managed to find her ship. She was confused and disoriented, plus the exposure to the mysterious green rocks in the lab had poisoned her and led her to bouts of delirium.

Since they were meteors from Krypton, one could call them Kryptonite, she supposed. It was a nice snappy name that rolled off the tongue.

'_To think, if I would have been down there much longer, I would have been in serious trouble,' _Karen said, making her way up the stairs of the Administration office.

There were times where she had to remind herself not to use her powers. This entire secret identity thing could bite big time.

She did befriend Swann's daughter, Patricia, and the friendship lingered past Swann's untimely death this past Spring. Karen smiled, it was good thing that she had someone who could teach her how to mostly fit in here on Earth. Although there were some humans who acted fairly strange, but that being said, she didn't want a huge blipping beacon on her head that said alien.

That being said, she had to stop that little trip down memory lane to meet with the Administration's officer of the college and she knocked at the door.

"Miss Starr, come in," the administration's director said, he shook hands with her. "I must say, your credentials are most impressive, you should have no trouble with your classes at Metropolis University."

Karen could not help but grin at that statement. The blonde allowed her arms to drop loosely by her side. She had to take high school level classes for about a year, but she shattered all records and did so in style.

She was well qualified on Krypton but Kryptonian qualifications did not hold up on Earth. Especially considering that there were a few sciences that weren't even discovered on Earth yet. That would be a hard one to explain if she started spouting off about something so advanced.

"That being said, it's protocol for us to assign you a student mentor, someone to show you the ropes."

Karen raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking at the administration advisor. "Oh?"

"I think that you'll find him qualified," the Administration's advisor said. "He's broken all records last year, and is qualified with what he's done."

Once again, Karen was impressed. She was going to meet the person who set the bar for the records that she's trying to break in her own right.

There was a knock on the door and the advisor smiled. "And here he comes right now….enter Mr. Potter."

The door opened and a young man entered the office. Karen turned around and immediately, she was blown away by his presence.

His long dark hair was unruly slightly, but it added to his charm. He had a pair of gorgeous green eyes behind a pair of glasses that caused her heart to skip a beat. The green eyes were something that a girl could get lost in, not that the rest of him was really bad either. In fact, it was green, amazing, drool inducing, you really add any number of adjectives to it, it is really true.

"You must be my student mentor," Karen said, figuring that she should act professional. The blonde acted like she wasn't dazzled by his mere presence.

"Hello, Miss Starr, I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, reaching forward and shaking her hand. "I have to congratulate you on the high score that you had on your entrance exam, most impressive."

"Thank you," Karen said, but she smiled. "But I'm sure nothing on you."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I did set the bar pretty high with that one," Harry said, shaking Karen's hand in a professional and restrained manner.

Karen smiled at the thought of that. "Guess it gives me something to strive for."

"It does," Harry agreed, and there was a sense that he checked her out just as much as he checked her out. Karen couldn't be for sure, for he was now looking her in the eyes. That allowed her to get a good look into his eyes and she shivered. "So, are you ready to take a tour of the university, Miss Starr?"

"Please, it's Karen, Mr. Potter," Karen said and she took Harry's arm, quite brazenly.

"Then I insist that it's Harry," Harry told her and the blonde grinned, allowing Harry to lead the way.

This would prove to be an interesting arrangement.

* * *

Karen was taken to a brief tour of the university but they were running into lunch time. So Harry invited her to a café across the street for some lunch.

"Well I am hungry," Karen admitted with a smile on her face. It would be kind of foolish, not to mention rude to turn down a free meal. "Do you….."

"It's on me, you should feel welcome here," Harry said and Karen smiled, with Harry leading her down into the café. They were greeting Harry as they went inside.

"I take it you're a regular?" Karen asked him, amused by how a few of the waitresses that he went by were checking him out.

"Well, I'm very popular," Harry told her with a smile, waving his hands. "Never mind, a private booth, please…"

"Of course, Dr. Potter," a pretty brunette waitress said, flushing, and Karen looked at him, mouthing the words "Dr. Potter."

"I'll explain later," Harry told her and Karen's mouth hung open. She briskly nodded, accepting that for now.

They waited for their sandwiches, fries, and sodas to arrive, with the blonde leaning back against the seat.

She realized the effects that stretching would have with pulling her shirt tight against her breasts. She saw Harry smile but he said nothing else. They were served by the waitress and Karen leaned back, stretching a little bit.

"Sorry, long morning," Karen said but Harry just waved it off.

"Of course," Harry told her with a smile and Karen opened her mouth but Harry grinned at her. "Well, your first full day is Monday, do you have any questions beyond what we discussed?"

"No, I'm sure that I got it all," Karen said with a smile. "I think that I've got it all."

"Well if you have any questions, you know where my room is, don't you?' Harry asked and Karen nodded.

"I'll be sure to knock, because I sure wouldn't want to see you indecent," Karen said with a saucy smile and a wink towards him.

"Well, is that because of that, or are you afraid that you might like what you see?" Harry asked her, flirting back at her.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Karen said, sipping her soda that just arrived. "So…..I'm sure that you read my file, so you know a fair bit about me."

"Well I want to hear it from your mouth first," Harry said, leaning back with a smile.

"Well as you know, I was an orphan that was taken in by Doctor Virgil Swann after my parents died when I was sixteen years old," she told Harry and he was listening so she pressed on. "I dedicated my life to learning all that I can and managed to get my Master's Degree at an early age but I decided to relocate permanently to Metropolis to try and get my Doctorate."

"There are numerous opportunities, although you better work fast, because it seems like the vast majority of the city is owned by Luthor," Harry said, and Karen could tell right off the bat that this was not a positive recommendation.

"Yes, Luthor," Karen said, she had a run in or two or ten with the man in the past and she found him to be…..well she found his personality to be quite a horrible one.

"Judging by the tone of your voice, that's a bad personal recommendation, isn't it?" Harry asked her and Karen smiled.

"Well, let's keep my opinion out of this for now," Karen said and then her expression brightened up. "But, never mind, tell me about yourself, I'm dying to know about you."

"Well, my parents died at a very early age," Harry told her and Karen looked sympathetic to him.

"Sorry to here that….how old were you…."

"A little over a year old," Harry said but he waved his hand. "I've been through my teenage angst years, and made peace with it. It's a shame, as I wonder what might have been if they weren't murdered…"

"Wait, murdered?" Karen asked and Harry looked at her. The blonde could have slapped herself for the lack of restraint and more importantly the distinct lack of tact. That being said, you don't throw out a word like that without wanting an explanation of some sort. It just wasn't really done, at all.

"Yes, there was a terrorist and his group of followers," Harry said, carefully choosing his group. "My parents worked for a super-secret branch of the British government, and they caught wind of what he was doing. He didn't like that and…..well he came to visit one night. The attack killed my parents, him, and left me with this."

Harry tapped to the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

"Well it certainly adds character," Karen said and Harry smiled.

"And it's quite the conversation started," Harry told her, and she nodded. "I really do want to put what happened back home behind me, because that chapter of my life is long since over."

"Well, I guess so," Karen said, but she understood how Harry would want to put the past behind him. Those he lost were not coming back.

"I stayed with relatives for the first ten years of my life, and then went to a boarding school where I broke all records, before moving here," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"Breaking records seems to be a thing for you."

"Well, I don't mean to brag but….."

"Actually, being up front and honest about your accomplishments is a good thing, even though it could get underneath the skin of some people," Karen told him. "And there is too much of this false modesty crap going on there that makes people seem phony."

This was another thing that Patricia explained to her. Then again there were a lot of people on Krypton who were cold and emotionless and told their accomplishments in a matter of fact manner.

"I made my way over here, and…..well you see where I am today."

"Just how old are you, if you don't mind me for asking?"

"Eighteen," Harry said and this was a statement that caught Karen completely off guard.

"You're shitting me," Karen said, and Harry smiled.

"No, I'm not shitting you," Harry said, pulling out his driver's license with the date of birth to confirm.

Karen had a sharp eye that could detect a forgery a mile away, but this is legit.

"I mean, no offense, you act like you're much more mature, I've seen twenty some year olds that don't have it together as you do."

"Well, to be fair, aren't we the same age?" Harry asked and Karen shut up immediately. "Seems to me like we're both slightly advanced for our age group."

His eyes traveled briefly to Karen's cleavage and she realized that her shirt rode up. After the growth spurt she had recently, she had not gotten a chance to purchase a new wardrobe.

"So, I'm sorry to hear about the death of Doctor Swann," Harry told her and Karen smiled. "He left behind a great legacy; a lot of his research will be lost mostly because people can't understand it."

"Well I'm trying to," Karen told him with a smile. "I wanted to be able to run STARR labs, but Patricia, you know his daughter, she's doing a good job at running the company."

Karen launched into a bit of what she was doing and Harry was a very attentive listener, giving his feedback when needed.

There was this sense that both were keeping some secrets from each other but that was the nature of the game. If the time was ever right then they would find out. Until then, they enjoyed each other's company.

* * *

Harry Potter returned from what was a light day of classes. He met the new student that he was student mentoring and he found her quite fascinating. It was the perfect combination of brilliant and beautiful, which was the perfect fix as far as he was concerned.

The green eyed wizard approached a set of caves which were out in the middle of the desert. It was a place where absolutely no one would think that there was anything out of the ordinary occurring, so it would be the perfect venue for what he was doing.

Harry thought about Karen, it would be interesting to work with her, given the vast wealth of knowledge she had at her disposal. The fact that she was exceedingly gorgeous, well that was a benefit, actually that was the clincher to say the very least. And he suspected that there was a lot more to her than met the eye.

The green eyed wizard stepped into the caves, which appeared to be deserted. Appearances could in fact be deceiving.

'_Took me long enough to get back on my feet here.'_

Harry wasn't going to dwell on what happened over there, because that was over. A chapter of his life he wrapped up with a nice little bow. A chapter of his life which he doubted would mandate that many pages because it was such an insignificant part of it.

The young man sat cross legged on a large rock. If anyone ambled into the cave, they would have thought that it was rather weird to see him do something like this.

Until they found out how practical it was, where a mysterious energy swirled around him and then a portal opened up in the cave wall.

Harry slipped inside, with a smile on his face, walking down a long hallway to his destination.

His heritage was quite an interesting one, even though he became powerless and drained when he arrived here three years ago.

It was three years ago today in fact that he entered this universe and he walked into a large and spacious manor house. It looked to be very old fashion, with many levels, with multiple bedrooms. It was located all within one rock inside the cave.

Then beneath the mansion, but also located in the rock in the cave was a lair so to speak.

Was this magic or sufficiently advanced technology?

Harry knew the answer to that question and also knew that the lines were fairly blurred. His mind was buzzing with what he learned today.

He sank himself into a comfortable chair in a large library. The tomes had been some of the rarest in the universe, some of them describing forbidden and obscure branches of magic.

'_Not that it matters now,' _Harry thought, testing his power levels.

Much higher than they were a year ago, but still very under par with what he was before he crossed the dimensional barriers or what is potential at full maturity should have been.

'_Well things could be better, but I can't complain,' _Harry continued thinking to himself. He managed to find several work arounds of his multitude of problems, so it wasn't like he was completely crippled.

Plus, to rely on your power was not only stupid, but it was also suicidal.

Harry decided to move over to the next part of library, accessing a state of the art computer system. With a little time and effort, he could pretty much hack into any computer in the world. If he had the knowledge to do so that was.

His mind drifted to Karen, which was quite understandable. He tried not to show it but he had this strange sense of Deja-Vu when he saw her.

The two of them did get along fairly well but then again they had similar hobbies. Karen wanted to run a business and Harry ran his.

'_You're something else, Miss Starr,' _Harry thought with a smile. He had a feeling that there was more to her than met the eye.

There was more to him than met the eye, much more. Both of them were prodigies and done a lot in a short amount of time.

Harry got up, moving to another room in the mansion. It as a room full of antiques and on the wall, there was a picture of three artifacts. One was a stone, one was a cloak, and the other was a very extraordinary looking wand.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble, didn't you?" Harry asked, peering at the picture of the three artifacts, and suddenly, he heard an alarm.

It was time for Harry to go to work at his night job. A job that called on him whenever it chose, no matter what the hours.

* * *

Karen was looking around, just seeing and enjoying some of the interesting artifacts that were around her. Some of them were Kryptonian in nature, others were other obscure societies. Some were from Earth, others were not. Kara Zor-L wasn't for sure but never the less, she was interested in looking at them.

Like this energy cannon for instance, one could argue that it should be…well it should be one of the most potent weapons that anyone would ever come across. However, it lacked a proper power core to function as it was intended. Therefore it was nothing but an overgrown flashlight from her perspective. The blonde laughed at the thought of it, running her hand down the weapon to observe it.

'_Well, the problem about Kryptonians is that leave their things lying around when they observe less advanced planets, good thing the core burned out before anyone picked it up and started playing with it,' _she thought in amusement.

"It's an interesting room isn't it, although I do wish that battle armor was completely intact."

Karen turned around and smiled, seeing a redhead standing there in the room. Her hair was tied back showing her beautiful face and alluring brown eyes. She wore a conservative business suit, with a buttoned up red blouse, a long flowing skirt, and stockings, along with thigh high boots.

"Hi, Patricia," Karen said.

"So, how was your first day at the University?" Patricia asked her and Karen smiled.

"Well, just being shown around the place by my new student mentor, he's really interesting," Karen said with a smile and Patricia returned fire.

"Right, interesting," Patricia said, she could tell by now that her friend was smitten but she decided not to say anything. "So…..who…"

"Harry Potter," Karen said and it was here that Patricia was taking a large drink of coffee that she promptly spit out onto the wall. "Well, you just sacrificed a perfectly good cup of coffee, didn't you?"

"No, Harry Potter…..seriously, your student mentor is, the Harry Potter," Patricia said and Karen looked at her friend strangely, as amusing as her reaction was, Karen really wanted to know why.

"Explain, please, explain," Karen said, and there was a note of urgency in her tone of voice.

"Well…..Harry Potter, that's interesting, that's really interesting," she commented, it took her a while to get her head in the game. "He's only one of the most eligible bachelors in Metropolis, women would line up and pay money to throw themselves at him."

"I wouldn't….well…"

"Trust me, a woman like you, you wouldn't need to," Patricia said with a smile and Karen smiled back. "Anyway….he's shrouded in a lot of mystery but his company….it's making Luthor sweat."

"Not a bad thing there," Karen said, anyone who gave Lex Luthor a hard time, well she liked them already.

"Well no, Lex has to be taken down a peg or two, it's healthy for him," Patricia said, taking a sip from her coffee. "So…..what was he like?"

"Very nice, very mysterious, has his secrets."

"Hmmm, reminds me of someone," Patricia commented, mockingly insightful and Karen gave her a playful swat to her arm.

"And I got this strange sense of Deja-Vu when I saw him that I can't really explain," Karen said, shaking her head. "It's weird, isn't it? There's just something about him….."

"Well, Harry Potter has this powerful presence that leaves many women wet in their panties and many men wet with tears in their eyes because they'll never hope to match up," Patricia replied candidly. "But reputations like that are not done without good reason, are they?"

"Well, yeah, I'd imagine that it doesn't," Karen admitted and Patricia smiled at her.

"So, your place at STARR is open for you, although I'm trying to broker the business deal that my father was working on before he died," Patricia informed Karen and the blonde corked her eyebrow. "And it's interesting to see that the person that we're talking about is the person who is behind the merger."

"Really, it's….."

"And also there's the business deal with Wayne Industries that's on the table," Patricia commented to Karen and Karen smiled. "STARR is going to really be put on the map, and hopefully between the three companies, it will be more enough to squeeze the Luthor Monopoly down to a manageable level."

"Let's really see so," Karen said, she was really excited to see what was happening. "I've got my first class tomorrow morning. But I've got to meet with Harry before then, I want to go over a couple of things."

"Oh, another date, already?" Patricia asked and Karen looked at her, shaking her head. She couldn't help but grin but she also couldn't help but enlightening her friend on the truth of the situation.

"No, not a date, not really I guess, well kind of, but not really."

Karen was trying to figure out where she stood with Harry Potter, but she had a feeling that standing with him would be a very nice place to say the very least. Her blue eyes burned with fierce determination.

"You kind of got lost, didn't you?" Patricia thought but Karen could hear something.

"I've got work to do, you know how duty calls," Karen said with a smile on her face.

She had an early class tomorrow but she only needed a few hours of sleep. The blonde moved into the closet next to her.

Kara Zor-L was ready to fly tonight.

Patricia prepared herself for a nice breeze to come past her and sure enough, she wasn't disappointed as a blonde blur shot past her like a cork.

Still, Harry Potter, that was interesting. She might have glimpsed him once or twice, but he was a very busy man and very hard to get some time with to figure out. He was very hard to pin him down.

Then again, perhaps that's what many women wanted to do, pin him down. Even though judging by the looks of him, it would be the women would be the ones being pinned down.

That being said, there was trouble afoot in Metropolis.

That looked like a job for Supergirl.

* * *

Memories could be a tricky thing to reconcile even at the best of times. And Harry was being taunted by some very weird memories.

Not to mention a strange sense of Deja-Vu when he met Karen but she was unlike anyone he had ever met in that place.

That being said, Harry decided not to dwell on this, mostly because he had to meet Karen in five minutes. Well five minutes in the real world, it could be about fifteen minutes in here, which gave Harry enough time to take a shower, eat breakfast, and get ready.

He had a big presentation to give this weekend and then he had the ongoing talks about a business deal with STARR Industries. It was only appropriate that Karen was his protégé but then again, he did request her.

Anyone who came close to breaking the records that he set was well worth his time and he could groom her to breaking those records. So in reality, pretty much everyone was going to win in a situation like this.

Something that suited Harry quite nicely, as he prepared to get ready for school, and he teleported to his official apartment where he would drive the rest of the way to the University.

'_Cutting it pretty close this morning, aren't you, Potter?' _Harry thought, thankfully he was right around the corner from University.

He arrived there with maybe about a minute to spare, which would have been a good example of a close shave.

Karen was just pulling in right now as well next to him.

"Seems like I wasn't the only one running late this morning," Harry said, both of them getting out of their respective cars.

"Yeah, but to be fair, I was only seventeen seconds late," Karen argued, shaking her head.

She cursed the fact that she couldn't just fly to school, because she would have beaten her mentor here. But the stupid bank robbers decided to pick this time of the morning to try a heist and she had to teach them a lesson.

The only solace was that she beat her mentor was about as late as she was.

"Well, I'm not too late, so I shouldn't be broken up," Karen told him and Harry smiled back at her. "Classes this morning, I'm looking forward to them."

"Remind me what I have again?"

"Well I've got Advanced Statistics," Karen said and Harry pulled a face.

"Not my favorite class," Harry admitted to her and Karen frowned.

"Didn't you get the highest marks in all of Met-U in it?" Karen asked.

"That was mostly done out of spite, and I had to, because my ego would not demand anything else, my lady," Harry said with a smile. "Anyone can excel in a class that they like. Excelling in a class that they hate, that takes true skill."

Karen smiled; she would have to agree with that.

"Then I got Business Economics," Karen commented.

"Solid subject that one, even if the teacher can induce insomnia,' Harry said, looking at her with a smile.

"Thanks for the head's up, honestly," Karen told him but she was used to boring instructors. She got her fair share of them during her studies on Krypton.

The two of them stood there and the first bell rang.

"I have a free period first, I'll walk you to your first class," Harry told her.

"Oh, well who I am to say no from an enticing offer like that?" Karen asked and the grin that was on her face was something that could not be beat by any means.

The two of them made their way inside the school and it turned out that it was not much of a walk at all as it was on the first floor and around the corner.

"So, I'll see you later, Karen," Harry told her.

"Yes, are we still on for lunch?"

Harry smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Perhaps she would get to know a bit more about him and why she had such a strong connection to him initially upon their first meeting. If not, well he had his secrets. Then again she had hers, so fair was fair.

Karen turned and made her way into her first class, to see if it was as much of a drag as Harry said it was.

Harry smiled and walked off to make his rounds around the University. He pretty much had free run of the place after the grant he gave them last year. Which really drug them out of the debt ditch that they put themselves in. Plus there was a scandal involving the Football team.

That being said, Harry was glad than he managed to beat Luthor to the punch in buying favor for the university. Lex Luthor seemed insulted by his very existence, for various reasons.

Then again, the man was sore because it was his records that Harry broke.

First academics and then Harry was creeping in on the business world. Plus, he might have interfered in one or two of his more unsavory endeavors but evidence were only circumstantial. Nothing too concrete to prove anything.

At least not right yet.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter on July 22nd 2014.  
**


	2. Secrets

For every day during their first week, Karen and Harry met for lunch, going over any concerns that she had for her classes, not that there were too many. Harry thought that there might not be but the fact was that he wanted to help her every step of the way. Someone like her, she had all of the potential in the world and Harry was hoping that she fulfilled it in her own time.

"And there are a lot of people who are starting to talk, about you and I," Karen said and Harry raised an eyebrow, locking his eyes onto her.

"Let them talk," Harry said, lifting his milkshake up to his mouth and taking a long drink. The signs of autumn were active in Metropolis. "You know, a lot of people would do a lot better in their studies if they didn't spend half of their time gossiping."

Karen laughed with a grin on her face. The good thing about Harry was that he always spoke his mind instead of beating around the bush. She really appreciated it because it was refreshing. "That's for sure."

The blonde was dressed in a tight black top that strained against her breasts, along with a jacket, and a skirt, along with stockings. Harry was dressed in a nice shirt and slacks, but one could see his muscular figure within them. It was a more subtle muscular figure but one could see that Harry worked out fairly often.

Karen spent a lot of time studying him intently, for scientific reasons of course, of course.

'_I would like to work him out,' _Karen thought, shaking her head. Given that she found most men on Earth to be rather lacking, she didn't really have any opportunities to work out her pent up frustrations.

The fact that most people never made it past her breasts really did kind of put a damper on things. Then again, Karen was very proud of them, what woman wouldn't be? That being said, she did long for a little bit of intellectual conversation every now and then. And Harry was there to provide it for her and she couldn't be more pleased. The fact that he was easy on the eyes was simply gravy.

"So, did you hear about the new Fusion Reactor that Luthor's putting out next month?" Harry asked and Karen sighed, she heard about it. It was only all over the news.

"Well it's another development from the golden boy of Metropolis," Karen said, and it was hard to keep the agitation out of her voice.

"He says that it's a cleaner, more efficient source of power, but….rumor has it that it was a long process that has an ugly backstory that was covered up," Harry whispered to Karen.

Karen nearly spilled her milkshake down her top but managed to steady her hand before the embarrassing situation happened. "Oh….do tell."

"Well, there were a lot of employees….mostly illegals…who Luthor hoarded in to work on the project, but many of them experienced symptoms that the closest match would be cancer, which slowly ate away inside them," Harry said. "There were also a lot of homeless people that Lex gave a job to….out of the kindness of his heart. They ended up turning up dead. The beta version of the Reactor wasn't very harmless; in fact, one could consider that it was co-opted for a different purpose."

"Like some weapon that could destroy countless villages," Karen said.

"Perhaps, but then again it's hearsay, without talking to Lex, we'll never know, and he's done a good job in covering thing ups," Harry said, he had been keeping a close watch on Lex. The man tried to put his hooks into Harry and his company and had been shut down. Therefore Harry had been after incriminating information to make Luthor's life a bit more difficult.

Sadly, people in the highest positions of LexCorp were not willing to part with anything too tangible. The word of a dying homeless man who was a drug addict was not enough to convict a man who had billions, and Harry knew this. He hated that fact but he was going to have to deal with it.

"Of course, I'm curious about the growing number of mutations that are happening, around the greater Kansas area," Harry said and Karen sat up straight, interested to see where this was going. "You grew up in Smallville before your parents died, didn't you?"

"Yes," Karen said, that was the official story that had been concocted by Doctor Swann that would explain her life for anyone who was willing to dig. She had spent eighteen years in stasis, never aging, trapped in her ship. That would really be something harder to explain.

"Did you ever run into any gifted people?" Harry asked, deciding to prod her for more information.

Karen could barely smile, it seems like she was going up against at least one of them every week since she came out of stasis. Then again, she was pretty gifted herself. The blonde adjusted her glasses. "Well, I've heard stories, I mean it's hard not to hear them. The police are doing their best…"

"The Metropolis Special Crimes Unit had to jump in from what I've heard," Harry told her and Karen nodded in response. There was no use hiding that fact because it was open knowledge.

"Oh yes, it got bad," Karen said. Patricia told her a lot of the stories. There was some weird shit going on in Smallville. For a town that was once known for its Corn at one time, it was now known as the Meteor Capital of the World. "It's really…"

There was a buzz in Karen's ear and she could hear that someone triggered an alarm. At one of the STARR facilities as well. The security there was supposed to be airtight, but that could really be proven wrong.

"I've got to go Karen, something's come up, I'll catch you tomorrow," Harry said and Karen was half distracted by the alarm, that she didn't even notice his hasty retreat.

She was kind of glad that she didn't have to come up with an excuse that sounded like a steaming pile of BS in her head. She was looking around for a phone booth to change in.

There was trouble coming and normally trouble meant some meteor mutants. That never could be good, the power drove most of the people who was infected with the meteors completely and utterly insane.

* * *

"Get out of here!"

A young man with whitening hair barked out a group of terrified lab technicians, who ran in the other direction. They were terrified absolutely out of their minds. Suddenly his breath hit them and they froze up, their bodies completely numb.

His power could paralyze people just by breathing on them. Such a power was useful and could terrify anyone to the bones.

"What do you want?" one of the lab technicians said, her hands shaking and breath coming in and out. Sweat rolled down her cheeks.

"We want what's in the vault," another man said, as the metal around the vault rattled around him. He could manipulate metal, an ability that gave him true strength and power.

"There's nothing in the vault!"

"There is something in the vault," the third meteor mutant said, a creepy oily looking man, who held the man who protested. He waved his hand and the man walked forward towards him and not on his own accord. There appeared to be puppet strings that were manipulating him forward.

"What are you doing?"

"Your movements are not yours anymore," the meteor mutant said with a whisper, and the man nodded in agreement even if he didn't want to. "I can make you strangle yourself to death or your co-workers. All I need is a simple thought. And you are too weak willed to do anything."

"Please don't, what do we want?"

"There's something blocking the vault, I can't rip it out," the metal controlling meteor mutant growled, and his eyes bulged along with his skin and his hands grew even more numb.

"Open the vault, do it," the puppet master whispered in the man's ears and his fingers twitched. He tried to fight it.

The power that was exerted on him forced him forward and one of the other men who was left unparalyzed, reached forward and tapped on the security alarm.

"That was a bad move," the silver haired man said and turned around, breathing on him, his paralyzing breath hitting the man.

"We have to get out of here now," the metal controlling mutant said. "She'll be here soon and we can't deal with her, not without a pan."

"Just wait, I'll put her underneath my power, and she'll be dancing to my tune," the puppet master whispered in an excited voice and it was almost extremely creepy with what he was saying.

"No trust me, we won't be able to handle her, we're going to have to get what we need at another place."

The puppet master smiled and waved his hand. The man's neck that he controlled was snapped back and he fell down to the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth and splattering against his white short.

"You're a sick individual," the metal controlling meteor mutant said as the trio made their way out.

"It's the police," the silver haired man said and the puppet master smiled.

"I'll take care of it," he commented, diverting his attention towards them, and he caused the police to stand straight into a line and he snapped his fingers. Slowly and quite creepily, the oily man turned towards them. "Let's go, I bought us a couple of minutes."

"Just a couple of minutes?" one of the meteor mutants asked, and they scrambled off into the distance.

There was something flying towards them in the sky, looking like a prominent blur. She moved so fast that they only barely caught sight of her.

"There she is," one of the mutants whispered and the puppet master grinned. He was getting very excited about the thought of putting Supergirl underneath his thrall. "Not now, we have a mission to do."

"But now STARR will be on alert…"

"Yes, it will be, but we'll get it eventually, she can't watch over them forever," the silver haired mutant said, his toxic breath filling the air. The only people who were immune to his breath were his two partners but that did not make them immune to the disgusting stench that came from the breath.

He wasn't completely sure if he liked that fact, because he was the type of person who liked his control and when he lost his control, that's when things went really south.

The Major Crimes Unit made their way in, to back up the regular police. They could see that their savior had arrived, but since it was a while before the alarm had been triggered, it was too late.

Karen made her way around the corner, thankfully she had a good idea where the security tapes were, and she could find out what she was dealing with. Backtracking a little bit, the blonde determined what direction she needed to do and darted off, continuing the search for them.

They couldn't be too far, they left on foot, and from what she saw, they didn't have super speed. So, it wouldn't be long.

* * *

The blonde female adjusted the top of her costume. The blue top that she wore strained against her breasts to the point that she thought that a strong wind might snap it, if it wasn't made from such strong material that shouldn't rip. That being said, she was getting the money's worth. Her toned stomach was showed and it was so tight and snug against her. The skirt was a little bit shorter than she remembered.

'_Fuck I hit a growth spurt, didn't I?' _she asked, shaking her head and trying to clear her head. That was the issue with her powers underneath the yellow sun, her growth spurts were completely obvious.

Then again a costume that she made when she was sixteen being worn when she was almost nineteen, yeah, she did a lot of growing between then and now.

Supergirl was the name that she had been dubbed and it was a name that stuck. They got it off of the red "S" that was perched on the center of her chest. It did seem to be one of those names that she would not be able to escape.

Even though she preferred the name Superwoman far and away because in her own biased opinion, she was all woman.

That being said, she made her way from the scene of the crime after checking the security tapes. She nearly stopped, running smack dab into the floating metal that hovered about six inches away from her nose.

More pieces of metal were floating in the air and the blonde Kryptonian placed her hands on her hips, her eyes following the trail. One deduction came to her mind immediately.

'_Well obvious trap, these idiots must think that I was born yesterday,' _Karen said and she used her telescopic vision to locate where the trail ended.

An alleyway, that's where they were going to ambush her, but Karen would go in from the other direction and surprise them.

Turning the ambush around on them, that might not be something that many heroes would do but the blonde was a bit savvier to these things than usual. Watching a lot of Earth television came in handy because she was able to pinpoint these obvious traps.

She shot up, following the trail towards a certain point but then she stopped and dodged around on the other end.

She flew completely in the other direction, circling around the city.

'_They're likely really confused right now,' _Karen thought, grinning. Her skirt flapped in the breeze but she really was going too fast for anyone to get a real treat. People would really be disappointed if they knew.

She made her way to the alleyway, and she heard a grunt of pain. Did they have hostages? That could complicate things a little bit.

The blonde really hoped not because she would have to swoop in and take them. The situation inside STARR was bad enough and she was really pissed that they just killed those people without a second thought. Some people like that, they couldn't be completely messed up by the meteors, they would have been helpless monsters before then. The meteors just made a bad situation even worse.

Karen stopped, nearly losing her balance in midair. She heard the groans and the pleas for help, but they didn't come from any meteor mutant.

The silver haired man with the toxic breath was pinned against the wall, his mouth apparently sewed shut so he could not breathe or anything.

The blonde watched, spell bound, as the metal controlling mutant tried to use his powers but something hyper charged the metal around him. The metal shot out of the corner, trapping him in a metal cage.

He could not even move and Karen watched, as she saw the person who was doing this. He was moving with swift precision, never staying in one place at once. She couldn't be quite sure what he was doing.

At first glance, she thought that the body armor he wore looked very low tech. It was completely black, with perhaps some padded armor on it. Really nothing too flashy.

Karen should have known better than anyone else that looks could in fact be deceiving. The armor was very high tech even though it looked low tech. The most elaborate part of the outfit was the white and black hood that was pulled over his face, obscuring his face and her ability to ID him.

"You will yield to me," the puppet master said, trying to get this mysterious man underneath control and his veins began to bulge out of the back of his head.

A smarter man would have yielded by now but this puppet master was not among the more intelligent people out there.

His will was strong and the puppet master tried more and more, straining his brain to the edge. His eyes became fairly bloodshot and a trickle of blood spilled from his mouth.

He fell over like a sack of shit, his eyes rolling up in the back of his head.

Karen dropped down to the ground and tried to step forward to face this mysterious man. She was kind of disappointed that she didn't have a chance to know these criminals around.

"Um, thanks, but you know I had that handled."

Just like that, the mystery man was gone and Karen was left with the downed meteor mutants. They were detained.

Most certainly detained, and he, whoever he was, managed to manipulate them into doing something stupid with their powers. Said attack brought them down. It was a well placed gambit if Karen had to really say so herself.

"So, I guess you managed to stop them before they killed anyone else, Supergirl?"

Karen turned around and saw a woman with short dark hair arriving there, dressed in a black jacket, armored pants, and a black top, the uniform of the Metropolis MCU.

"Well, someone else beat me to the punch, Detective Sawyer," she told the woman. Maggie Sawyer was her biggest supporter on the MCU, as many of them were a bit uneasy with an invulnerable girl with powers.

Karen couldn't say that she blamed them, even though her intentions were noble. All of the super powered meteor mutants were proof of the danger of people with powers. So she accepted that things weren't going to be that bad.

"Must have been the shadow vigilante," Maggie said to her, and this was news to Karen.

"The Shadow Vigilante?" Karen asked, the name not quite passing the BS test with her. Then again a lot of hero and villain names didn't when you really thought about it.

"Just the name he was called by the MCU, not sure what he's really calling himself," Maggie replied and Karen nodded. "He showed up recently…..his exploits haven't quite made the paper, because no one really wants to admit that he exists. And he hasn't quite passed urban legend status."

"Well he's real, I saw him," Karen said to her. "I just wish I hadn't been so late….."

"Sometimes things like this can't be helped, it comes with the territory," Maggie said, seeing the looks of pure horror etched in the eyes of these three meteor mutants. She could only imagine what they saw before they were contained. "The prison is getting overcrowded, but we did get a donation from someone to help better contain these mutants."

"Let me guess, Lex Luthor….."

"No, actually Harry Potter but….you better go, the Mayor and Luthor are rather close these days and anyone who is seen being friendly with you is going to be in for a lot of heat."

Karen sighed, she clashed with Luthor plenty, both as Karen Starr and as Supergirl. She met him the first time at one of those high society get-togethers and Luthor thought he was being charming but he came across as a bit of a lech.

"Right, I wouldn't want you to lose your job," Karen said, she was interested about Harry donating to the MCU. The problem was bringing that up in a casual conversation.

Maggie watched Supergirl leave, up, up, and away. There was a voice that brought her out of her stupor.

"So, what happened?"

"They got caught, must have had a guardian angel on our side," Maggie said.

"Was it Supergirl or that Shadow Vigilante?"

"Turpin, I didn't see anything, I wouldn't know."

Dan Turpin knew that she knew and Maggie knew that she knew that he knew that she knew or something. He had butted heads with the Mayor recently about the entire Supergirl thing, but the Mayor seemed to be putting pressure on the MCU to hunt her down as a vigilante.

Never the less, the grizzled veteran of the MCU, Dan Turpin walked in, to make sure no civilians interfered with this investigation.

* * *

The vigilante made his way back to the cave, slowly removing the hood to reveal the face of Harry Potter. Overall, he would have to say that today was a perfect test run of the new and improved battle suit.

Then again, he didn't really fight a group of really dangerous criminals. Well they were dangerous because of their powers but once they fought someone who was skilled they were just your average garden variety thugs with a few bells and whistles.

That puppet master might have been the most depraved of them all and Harry could not even begin to think what he did with his powers. It was sick to even think about.

That being said, he checked the suit, and was pleased with the results of the field test. He didn't really get damaged in the fight and it was always a pleasant surprise to come home without a scratch.

He overheard the conversation in the alleyway, switching is suit to cloaking mode, while giving the impression that he disappeared in a blink of the eye.

Which he could also do with the suit but that was beside the point.

It seemed like he was becoming more known, and not among the press, at least not yet. Then again, there had been very few witnesses to his vigilante activities.

Most of them happened at night, but he couldn't wait to test out the new suit. When he received word in the ear piece that he wore that an alarm had been triggered, he figured that there was no time like the present for a more practical run.

'_And it worked well,' _Harry thought. _'Poor devils, they thought they were secure because they had super powers. That's what happens when you rely on your powers and don't use the common sense gifted to a dog.'_

The suit worked out pretty well but Harry could function without it well enough. It was just a measure to minimize injuries on his part.

He was still not up to the optimal level but naturally it would be really hard to determine what the time table to that would be.

That being said, he was pretty pleased with how things were going. He got the quarterly reports back from his company today and that put a smile on his face. Then again, he made sure to handpick people that could run it rather well in his stead.

Of course, the most interesting thing today would be that he ran into Supergirl today. He had heard of her exploits but naturally this was the first time that he had seen her face to face.

He smiled, things were going to get even more interesting. The green eyed wizard saw the reports. All there was, there was a blurb about how the meteor mutants had been taken into custody with the MCU.

According to them, something made their powers unstable and there was a call from the Mayor that vigilantism would not be tolerated.

'_I see the Mayor's name attached to that article, but I hear the words of Lex Luthor flying out of his mouth,' _Harry thought to himself.

Harry got out his cell phone and dialed up Karen's number.

"Hello?" Karen asked.

"Hey, Karen, it's me Harry, sorry I had to run out today, something came up," Harry told her. "It was an urgent appointment, you realize that….."

"Hey, it's no big deal," Karen said, brushing it off. "Just after you left, something came up on my end as well…..I'm interning at STARR you know and….did you hear about the break in?"

"It's just popping up on the news now," Harry told her and Karen nodded.

"I had to check up on my friend, Patricia, to see if she was okay," Karen said, keeping her voice calm and collected. She hoped that Harry would buy it but she did check up on Patricia, who was moving the item in the vault to a more secure location.

Only her and Karen knew about the item being moved, it was under super-secret security. It was fairly dangerous as well if it was in the wrong hands but most high tech things were.

"No problem, is she okay?" Harry asked casually.

"Yeah, she's fine, but a lot of people, well they're not so lucky," Karen said, and she seemed broken up.

"I just saw that, seems to me like the MCU were on the job today," Harry said with a smile. "Hopefully they keep putting the right people away."

Karen did not want to say anything about the Shadow Vigilante, as he was being dubbed. Especially given that it looked like he was being kept out of the official reports.

"So, if we could meet for dinner?"

"That would be great but where….."

"I have an apartment that I stay at when I need a more modest place to crash, it's right outside of Metropolis, how about we meet there in an hour, and I'll make up for darting out on you," Harry said to her.

"That would be great, Harry," Karen said, she wasn't going to complain. Free food was free food.

* * *

Harry heard the knock on the door less than an hour later and the green eyed wizard smiled, walking over to the door and opening it to allow her inside.

Karen stepped inside, looking awe struck. She didn't quite imagine this when she heard about an apartment.

"Karen, are you okay?" Harry asked and that question jerked her back to reality.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine," Karen said shaking her head. "I thought that I got the wrong place but I saw your car parked outside…..a great place you got here."

She caught a glimpse of the master bedroom and it was equipped with soft looking carpet, a nice large bed and a few pieces of artwork on the wall. Karen wanted to get a closer look but she supposed that would be considered a bit too forward for someone that she met about a week ago.

"Thanks, I do try and keep it kept up well, even though I rarely spend that much time here," Harry said. "I either spend most of my time at the college or around the city."

"You do get around," Karen said but she stopped and suddenly looked extremely sheepish. "That sounded a lot cleaner in my head."

Both of them laughed at the question, and Harry lead her into the kitchen area.

"I don't know what that is, but it smells really good," Karen said, and she smiled, looking around. The furniture looked antique and kind of exotic as well.

"Only less than a hundred sets ever made," Harry informed her and Karen raised an eyebrow, as he dished out the meal.

"Well, you do have exquisite tastes….and the food tastes good," Karen said, taking a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "Oh, so good."

"I'm glad I meet your standards," Harry commented, enjoying the food himself.

"Well…..not much of a cook myself, I'm adequate but for the longest time, I could burn cold cereal," Karen said, shaking her head. "And Patricia's not that much better, so there's a lot of takeout. Granted, there's nothing wrong with having Chinese, but still a good home cooked meal is a delight, you know what I mean."

"I think that I have a good idea," Harry agreed with her and Karen continued to munch on the food, feeling good about herself. "I'm just glad that the Penthouse gets some use. I spent a lot of time here when I first moved into town but over the past six months, not so much."

Karen continued to look around, trying not to act nosy, but she couldn't really help herself.

"Well the Swann estate is pretty nice, I'm sure," Harry told her and Karen smiled.

"Nice is rather…..well it's a good description of it, yes," Karen said. "I have an apartment….an actual apartment thank you, and not a glorified palace like this one."

"I actually have a palace, well my family did, it's more like a castle really," Harry said and Karen looked interested about that.

"Well, you're full of surprises, aren't you?" Karen asked, managing to pack away a fair amount of food. With her higher metabolism thanks to her powers, it wasn't like it was going to show any time soon anyway.

She was visited by a strange thought that she almost pushed out of her head right away. Although he would have the resources to pull something like this.

That being said, she enjoyed Harry's company regardless, as they made some nice conversation.

* * *

"Powers, it will be ready in a few weeks, and don't worry about things at Wayne, we'll handle the situation."

The man over the phone was the one and only Lex Luthor. He had long red hair that resembled a lion's mane and wore an ugly looking green suit.

He had been the favorite son of Metropolis, at least until the point where Harry Potter showed up and stole his thunder. Over the past fifteen years, he carried Metropolis on his back, after the untimely demise of his father.

"I sell a state of the art defense system to the government, and it's bumped off the front page about an editorial of how Supergirl is so great for this city," Luthor said but there were whispers of a new vigilante that was in town that also stirred his temper up.

Lex Luthor did not like what he was seeing and he made his plans to rectify the situation once and for all. He controlled Metropolis, and even with the Mayor in his pocket, he couldn't control everything.

Especially given that popular opinion indicated that Supergirl was a good thing, much to Lex's agitation.

Then there was this Shadow Vigilante as the paper dubbed him. It was a fabrication, like the nutjob that was rumored to be haunting Gotham City.

Lex Luthor made plans because that's what Lex Luthor did. Some bitch dressed up in a cape was not going to stop his plans.

**To Be Continued on July 25th 2014. **


	3. Power

"Supergirl, the media darling of the city. A reckless vigilante with powers that put the human race in danger but yet she is beloved by many. And the MCU will not do their jobs in bringing her down because they actually support her activities."

Lex Luthor was pacing in his office like a caged animal, giving a speech to himself that he had been given many times before.

"It's not their faults, not entirely," Lex muttered underneath his breath after a few seconds. He clasped his hands together. "Perhaps they are not equipped to deal with a marvel like Supergirl."

Lex decided not to mention the other person who was haunting the city of Metropolis. For he believed the man to be a rumor, an urban legend, likely stirred up by some people to get others talking. That was the least of Lex's problems, and there were many. Regardless there was one other problem that was glaring at him.

He could see his latest defense contract being swept away from underneath him because Potter offered them a better deal. So Luthor was in a mood most foul and it was just getting worse by each passing second.

The news was enraging him. There was another news bit about the three meteor freaks having died twelve hours after they had been brought into custody, due to their powers having finally caused their internal organs to get out .Normally Luthor would be rather suspect about something like this but he had his own business to take care of.

"Supergirl, Media darling, please," Lex stated, looking over the documents underneath his desk. "These meteor rocks….this Kryptonite as it has been dubbed, they have proven to be a weakness to our young golden girl. But they are also a source of power beyond all human comprehension."

The wheels of motion started to turn in Lex Luthor's head, which was a really scary sight to behold. When Lex plotted, that normally meant bad things were coming down the pike. It was true, Luthor had some ideas in the back of his head. Plans were going to be enacted and Supergirl…..well Supergirl was going to be a mere memory. She would be dealt with. An accident of course, and people would erect statues in her memory.

But in a matter of months, she would be gone, forgotten, and Lex Luthor would be here.

The businessman picked up the phone, and made a call, to see if everything was ready. "Is it ready?"

He nodded as the man on the phone informed him in the progress.

"Get the subject up already," Lex said to him. "He's someone who I paid top dollar to get here, I don't want…..I don't want any consequences, do you hear me? He's the best in the world at what he does, and what he does…..well it's what I pay him to do now. And Otis, if you bungle tis one, you'll be fired."

Lex made his way to the elevator, grumbling about how some of his men were incompetent buffoons. And lot of them happened to be named Otis for some reason, at least some of the more incompetent ones. That was just another day which was par for the course for Lex Luthor. The man stepped forward half of a step and turned his head.

He took a moment to look into the distance at Metropolis, the city of dreams, his city.

Not the city of some bright eyed British invasion and certainly not some golden haired alien. Both of them would need to be discredited or neutralized.

Most frustratingly, Lex had not been able to amass any leverage against Harry Potter. Someone that mysterious had to have a past but he checked out, clean as a whistle. He could not even find an overdue library book to his name.

The man made his way down the elevator once again, and was in the lab.

His security guards escorted a man dressed in prison issue, who had blonde hair and a tanned complexion. He had quite the body, but he would have a better body before long.

"Mr. Luthor, I have to say, I'm curious to why you of all people broke me out of prison," the man said in an Australian accent. "You don't normally seem to be the type to associate with my crowd."

"No, not normally," Lex agreed, peering into the eyes of this hardened killer. If he had been more honest with himself, he would have admitted that it was almost looking into a mirror.

"But why did you call me here?"

"The reason that you were in prison, it was because of Supergirl."

"Yeah, that cunt decided to ruin my plans…..and she crushed my ribs something fierce," the man said with an ugly scowl. "Who does she think she is?"

"Mr. Corben, what if I could tell you that I could give you the means to gain revenge over Supergirl?" Lex asked and the man's interest was piqued.

"I'm listening," Corben said, the hardened assassin looking at him and several men walked into.

"Please take your clothes off and lay down upon the lab table and let these men put you under," Lex told him and the man looked like he was about to protest. "Relax, a trip to the dentist will be more painful than what I'm about to do to you."

Corben relaxed, stripping his clothes off, he still ached from his last encounter with Supergirl.

"When you wake up, you won't be able to feel anything Supergirl does to you next time," Luthor said with a smile, as one of the doctors injected him with a drug that numbed all of the nervous centers in his body.

"Prep him for surgery."

"Dispose of his flesh body afterwards," Lex told his security guard. "It's not like he will be needing it anymore."

Lex turned around, and soon he would have a weapon which to take down Supergirl. The thorn in his side will be removed.

His eyes were fixed meanwhile on the security footage of a museum heist where Supergirl had been grew weakened by the green rocks in a display case a couple of weeks. He smiled, it was a weakness that he would exploit and use to destroy her.

Then without a Supergirl, there would be a void to protect the city, and that would be where his new battle suits would come in.

* * *

The museum heist about a week about was a real eye opener for Karen. She saw the Kryptonite in the case, she knew how it affected her, but she let a couple of hoodlums that she could have trashed in seconds get away.

The fact that they were found tied up a few blocks away didn't really matter, Karen was agitated by the entire matter.

The blonde blew her hair out from in front of her face, crossing her arms underneath her chest. How could she be so weak, she wondered? That being said, there was really no time to brood on it now.

It was time to find a way to negate that glowing, pun intended, weakness.

'_Let's see this armor would work, but the problem is, it will block out the yellow solar radiation, and….yeah that's a no,' _Karen thought, shelving yet another plan.

There were several promising choices but then they all had some flaw that caused Karen to throw them out. The problem was she knew that Kryptonians had a way to negate such high level radiation but all of the knowledge had been lost to the demise of the planet and she suffered a severe mental block at exactly how the theory worked.

'_Damn, now's not the time to have a block about something like this,' _Karen mentally swore, she wanted to head desk herself, repeatedly and often. The blonde shook her head returning herself back to battle.

She could not afford to have a blonde moment now of all times. That being said, Karen needed to meet with Harry.

Karen wondered if Harry could help her out about this problem, he could have had his hands on resources, but that would require her to tell him her secret. While she supposed that she would have to eventually, now wasn't the time for it.

Her ship's hard drive might have held the answer to her problem, but there was just one problem, a minor problem, but a problem never the less. There was an insufficient power source on Earth and she couldn't get it working even if she wanted to.

That being said, the blonde checked her watch for her lunch date with Harry. He wasn't late yet, she was just very early. Her sitting here gave plenty of time to mull over what she had to do.

If someone like Luthor found out her allergy to those fucking green rocks, she would be sunk. That being said, the blonde was determined to keep her head up.

"Sorry I'm late."

Harry showed up and Karen checked her watch.

"Only by about fifteen seconds," Karen said and she could see Harry had been running very ragged. "So, you're back from your trip from Gotham?"

"Yeah, I told you that I'd tell you about it when I got back, I was meeting with an old friend, she just got back from a trip," Harry said, sitting down.

"Well, I'm sure that's interesting," Karen replied to him but she saw the latest issue of the Daily Planet in his hands. Perhaps she had the opening to fish for some information after all. "Supergirl was kind of sloppy with that museum heist, wasn't she?"

"Mmm, yes she was, but I suppose that we all have our off days, I wouldn't be too hard on her," Harry said with a smile. "It's almost like she had some kind of Achilles heel in there."

"Yeah, so it seemed," Karen replied, and they paused to order their lunch. It might be a while because the café was rather short-staffed today. "So, what was your trip about?"

"Business for the most part, Gotham has their own band of misfits, and that Asylum there makes them come out worse," Harry said. "Even since the Bat went off of the map about five years back…"

"He's an urban legend though, isn't he?"

"He was very real," Harry commented, but he shook his head. Karen noticed the past tense of that statement but she didn't point it out. "That being said, Gotham's Police Force is understaffed and what they do have in staff is corrupted. At least the Metropolis MCU is mostly on the level, it's the Mayor that's the problem."

"What's the deal with the Mayor?" Karen asked, even though she already knew.

"Well he's so far in bed with Luthor, that I'm surprised the two of them haven't announced their engagement yet," Harry said and Karen's smile got really wide at that statement.

"Yes, that's the thing, isn't it?" Karen asked, her meal finally coming and a good thing too, because she was so hungry that she could eat a house. Truly a horse would not be adequate enough for her.

"Supergirl was weakened by something in that museum, but if she pinpoints that, she could create some kind of shield," Harry mused.

"Most radiation shielding is clunky and not conductive to movement, though," Karen commented and Harry smiled knowingly at her. Karen drank her juice, so she didn't really notice it.

"Well then an internal shield might do the trick. Based on nano-technology."

Karen had to duck behind the table, acting like she dropped her napkin to hide the triumphant smirk of glee.

* * *

Luthor was right, John Corben had to admit that. When he woke up, he woke up as an entirely different man and he had to say that he enjoyed that immensely. His new body was covered with a synthetic skin that would allow him to adopt a more human approach, while also enjoying the power that this upgrade offered.

After a brief test run with his body, made out of the rare alloy known as Metallo, it was time. In fact, he adopted the name of the alloy as his codename. He stepped forward and paid a couple of hoods with stacks of hundred dollar bills. It was the language that they both spoke, money, and it made the world go around, for both good reasons and evil reasons.

"Here's the plan, cause a disturbance and make sure you get Supergirl's attention," Metallo said, thinking that the money that he gave them should pay for their hospital bills.

"Um, yeah, my jaw just healed from the last time I'm…." one of the hoods said, but Metallo slapped another set of hundred dollar bills in their hands. Any arguments were completely lost "Okay, mister, I'll do it!"

"You just have to distract, and I'll do the rest, got it?" he asked them and the hoods nodded.

Corben made his way into the shadows, and he could see the hoods move around. One of them pulled out a crowbar and the other hand a chain in his hand that he was swinging around like a mad man.

"Let's get them," one of them grunted and he smashed the display of the press stand with a crowbar.

Karen could hear the panic of the people and she saw the two goons that were causing a ruckus, in broad day light, where she could see them.

'_And now we have the two dumbest criminals that I've encountered today, these guys,' _Karen thought to herself.

The blonde looked at one of the criminals, who swung his crowbar like a baseball bat towards her.

That might have worked if she wasn't her, therefore it just bent off of her skull like a piece of rubber.

It messed up her hair just a little bit and that caused her to kick him in the face, sending him down.

The other one rushed into the nearby building, but Karen used her super breath to knock him on his ass. Both thugs were disposed and Karen broke more of a sweat going to class then she did fighting these two clowns.

She prepared to tie him up but suddenly, she felt a little sickness fill her body. She felt like she was about ready to hurl.

A man stepped forward towards her and her knees knocked together fairly shakily. She tried to hold her head up, breathing in.

Kryptonite was here, but where was it? The blonde could feel her vision blur over and it was hard to concentrate.

"This has been a reckoning that has been a long time coming," he said and she pushed herself up and nailed the man approaching her with a huge kick to the head.

She dropped down to the ground, that took more energy out of her that she thought. Her eyes glowed but then flickered out.

The blonde slipped down to one knee. The madman approached her with a leer on his face and bent down to look her into the eyes. Karen felt like an infant trying to pull herself up to walk, but somehow she got to her knees, before he forced her bac down with a huge punch to the stomach.

"You should have not interfered with my plans, it would have been a lot easier on you," he said, cupping his hand underneath her chin and forcing the blonde bombshell to look into his eyes. "But now , I'm stronger, faster, and more able to deal with you. And you're as weak as a kitten, love."

"Oh, you'd be surprised that this kitten still has some fucking claws," Karen said, and she nailed him, causing his jacket to fly off and then heat vision caused him to back off, the fake skin burning off of him.

Half of the skin was still hanging from his face, smoldering, and the metal frame underneath could be seen, with the heat vision not damaging him in the slightest. Karen blinked and she found the source of the Kryptonite.

There was a chunk of Kryptonite resting in his chest. It seemed to be powering that body of his. It was as big as a soccer ball.

'_Oh dear god, I've got to,' _Karen thought, picking up a huge table with her strength.

The bottom was lined with lead, she should be able to take him out.

She rushed the table towards him, nearly tripping over her feet, and slamming it into his chest, pushing him against the wall but he had super strength as well because of that new body.

"Nice try, but no…"

A burst of Kryptonite vision shot from his eyes and caused Karen to fly back into the wall. Her costume was burned, and she felt her skin blister.

He was about read to move in for the kill but suddenly, a figure swooped down.

Metallo's arms were disconnected from his body, along with his legs. He fell to the ground, nothing but a torso and a head.

Karen barely could keep her head up and she could see the man scoop her up and they disappeared into a flash in the air.

"Most annoying," Corben whispered as several cables retracted from his torso, slithering towards his detached limbs to grab onto them. "But you're going to have to do better than that."

His arms and legs attached together. His Kryptonite power source hummed, it wasn't working as much as it should.

He realized suddenly that it had been solidified, transmuted into coal somehow. How could that…..

"Luthor, I have a problem," Corben grumbled, wondering how he was still alive if the very thing giving him life had been negated.

"Do you have Supergirl?" Luthor asked him.

"No."

"Then you have a big problem," Luthor replied swiftly, his voice cold with indifference.

"The power source, it's gone….it transmuted into coal," Corben said and Luthor went silent for a moment. "Luthor?"

"If I couldn't see your bio-metrics, I wouldn't believe it yourself, get back to base immediately, you have only thirty minutes worth of back up energy, I'll give you a fresh Kryptonite heart and I'll find out why it turned to coal," Luthor said without taking a breath. Time was of the essence.

Corben didn't want to mention who did that right now, or that his arms and legs were hacked off. He saw the timer on his suit, twenty six minutes and eighteen seconds full of backup power left before he was sunk.

* * *

Karen shook herself back awake; needless to say, she felt the burn of what happened. Her stomach turned a little bit and the shadowed figure now hovered over her, with a smile on his face, or at least she assumed that.

Without seeing his face, she couldn't really be for sure.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Well better now, I guess," Supergirl managed after a few seconds and it did take a while for her to clear any cobwebs. The truth was that her entire body ached from head to toe.

"Metallo…..he's dangerous, but the man who is underneath that Cyborg, he is more so, a professional assassin and part time thief, John Corben."

Corben, Corben, the name was slowly ringing a bell with Karen, but that was not the only thing that was ringing. Her head was ringing for instance. The blonde could feel the ringing increased and it was becoming a bitch and a half to concentrate.

Then it stopped, so she got up to her feet. Knees were still shaky but other than that.

"So, I guess you saved me."

She looked around the cave, and she had to admit that she was blown away. A fair bit of this equipment looked very advanced. Actually more than a fair bit of it, she mentally corrected herself, most, if not all of it looked very advanced.

The interior design was very sleek and inefficient, with the blonde being blown away by what she saw in the castle. Some might call it simplistic, but it was practical. Plus, she thought that there was much more to it than met the eye. She could see the shelves around her of various books and the state of the art computer system.

Her heart skipped a couple beats the more that she looked. She focused on a portrait of a mysterious cloak, a stone of some sort, and what looked like some kind of glowing stick on the wall. Karen deduced that those objects had some sort of significance.

"Well, can I say wow?" she sked and he smiled, or at least she assumed that she did. Something like that was really hard to tell when the person in question had a hood over his head.

"If you want to," he told her, amused by her wide eyes looking around, scoping out the area around her. "But as much I'd like to show you around, we have business to take care of. I've been studying the rocks, and…..you have quite the allergic reaction, don't you?"

"That's putting things very mildly," she said, crossing her arms underneath her sizeable chest.

He walked over and Karen was visited by all sorts of weird theories. She didn't see the entrance to this Lair to be honest, she had been kind of in la-la land, so any clues about his secret identity would have been lost.

"His Kryptonite heart, it turned to coal," Karen said, before she could stop herself. "I didn't even know how that was possible…how was that possible?"

"A special chemical compound in my suit, unfortunately, I have to be up close and person with the Kryptonite….as you call it, in question," he said, and his back was turned towards her, working on something. "Upon open air, it burns itself out pretty quick. Only got a fifteen second window of opportunity to blast it. And before you ask, the lasers on my suit can cut through anything."

He demonstrated, cutting a diamond in half. The fact that he could just easily destroy a diamond like that without blinking, must have meant that he was packing some serious resources. At least that's what Karen assumed.

"Very nice," Karen said with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh, yes, but it took a while to get all of the kinks out," he said.

'_If only you know the trouble I had with the beta version of this suit,' _Harry mentally added. He wondered if Karen was putting the pieces together as to who he was. He kind of wanted her to be the one to figure that out.

"So Shadow Vigilante…"

"That's the name that the cops have given me…..well fitting, I guess," he replied, but Karen could tell him that judging by his tone, he didn't approve.

"Right, well the press gave me the name of Supergirl, which was fitting about three years ago, but I kind of filled out since then."

His voice was clipped and rather amused. "Yes, I noticed."

"So…"

"I've got a cure for your little problem, but you're going to have to trust me on this one."

"Yeah, of course, of course I trust you," she replied, with a smile on her face.

He pulled out a syringe with a bubbling liquid in it. "This will negate the effect that Kryptonite has on you, forming a shield that blocks it, but does not sacrifice your powers. It should work against Green Kryptonite."

"What about other forms?" Karen asked and he smiled.

"Work in progress."

"So, I guess it's time to take my medicine," she replied, stretching back on the chair and closing her eyes.

She did feel a prick in her arm and then she felt herself shifting.

"Here, think fast!"

He hurled a chunk of Kryptonite at her and she caught it in her hand. She almost felt like she had live fire in her hands when she clutched the rock.

Nothing happened, that made Karen want to do a dance. She didn't because she was bad at it.

"So thanks um….what do I call you?"

He paused and continued with a smile. "You may call me Arcane."

* * *

Metallo was now restored, with a few significant upgrades. Supergirl and her mysterious companion might have gotten away, but when there was crime, she would be there. She was predictable in that sense of the world.

All that he had to do was draw her out in the open.

"Freeze, Corben," Maggie Sawyer said, pointing her weapon at him but the bullets had no effect.

"Haven't you read the latest report now, luv, it's Metallo," he commented, looking over at her.

"Yeah, well your new name will be mud," Turpin said, and he rushed Metallo, trying to get in a shot at him.

He picked up the gruff cop by his shirt and hurled halfway across the street. The other members of the MCU got smacked down hard.

"Last time, you helped bring me in, this time, I've got the advantage," he commented and he grabbed Maggie around the wrists, pushing the woman back against the wall. "No need to seem so frigid, love, how about a kiss?"

His lips found hers and her eyes popped open, looking absolutely repulsed.

Corben paused, he could feel nothing, and he was completely numb. While he could feel no pain, he could not feel any pleasure. It was stirring him up angrily as he came to one conclusion.

He would never feel the arousal from a woman's touch ever again.

Corben gave one last growl of agony, shaking his head.

"Impossible, this isn't….this shouldn't be happening," he growled for a few seconds.

"Ah what's the matter, can't get it up?"

Corben turned around and saw Supergirl, hovering over him, looking pristine as ever. His mood improved, if he was not going to be able to feel pleasure then she was going to take it out on her.

"You just made a critical error coming around here, Supergirl."

"Yeah, well you make one every day leaving the house looking like that," she commented, shaking her head.

Corben unbuttoned his jacket and allowed the Kryptonite to be exposed in full force.

"Oooh," she said, dropping to the ground in front of him and Corben didn't expect any trickery.

"On your knees, right before me, like you belong….."

Karen smiled, and he was closer, closer, closer yet. She grabbed the Kryptonite heart with her bare hands and ripped it out, before hurling it out of harm's way.

"HOW?" he demanded.

"Very simple actually," she commented with a smile on her face and she nailed her enemy with a huge rocket buster of a punch, slamming her fist into his face with a sonic boom.

His knees buckled underneath her and the blonde hammered him with a series of punches. When he tried to hit her, she crouched down in the air.

"I might not have my Kryptonite heart, but I have a full hour of back up power, and that's more than enough to deal with you," he said, but suddenly, she used her heat vision.

It didn't slice his arm off and he tried to grab her but she dodged it, again, and again, and again.

Three green pellets flew through the air and broke open onto him. It released a sticky foam that caused Corben to be frozen in place.

"I can't….move," he managed, he felt like his legs weighed too much to lift up.

"Yes, what was your first clue anyway?" Karen asked and Arcane made his way there, invisible, even though she knew that he was there.

"Okay, you're going to tell us who fixed you up like this."

"Just who are you?"

The man whispered harshly in his ear. "Your worst nightmare."

"I'll never say anything to….ARGH!" he yelled, it was supposed to be impossible, he wasn't supposed to feel pain but he was feeling it badly.

"That's just a mere taste," he whispered in a low voice. "Either you tell us, or…."

He made a snapping motion with his hands and the man blinked suddenly, trying to move his head.

"Fine, it was that tosser Luthor, he put me in some kind of surgery, he wanted Supergirl out of the way…..paid me a shit ton of money for it, but….."

Suddenly, his head exploded. It was obvious that someone didn't want him to spill the incriminating beams to the proper authorities.

Supergirl smiled, she heard the name Luthor, and that was all that she needed to know.

"So thanks," she whispered to him.

She had a good idea what was going on right now but that was beside the point. Business called right now and she flew off to pay a nice little visit to LexCorp and put the fear of God into Lex.

* * *

So Metallo was a failure, something that Lex Luthor wouldn't be losing too much sleep over. It was a calculated risk to be honest and if Supergirl had been destroyed, it would have been the risk that paid off. And if it didn't, well there would be other opportunities.

That being said, he had to destroy the evidence and thugs like Corben were a dime a dozen. If he ever made a new and improved Metallo, there would be a thousand prisoners at Ryker's just waiting for a chance to be a part of history.

Lex looked out the window, overlooking all of Metropolis. His city, the city that Luthor build.

That was something that the press called it for years and he was going to keep that distinction by hook or crook. He had to bust some skulls to get to where he was.

Then he had his share of enemies. Lex counted about seventy two separate assassination attempts on him but he survived every one of them.

Whether it was because of some inept assassins or because of a special ability of his own, Lex decided to keep that matter under his hat. He prided himself for being a survivor, a man of great intellect, grand wealth, and most importantly of all a great head of hair.

Suddenly, he could see someone approaching him. Lex slowly turned around to look out his open window.

He saw Supergirl hovering in the windowsill, her cape fluttering in the breeze and a murderous glare in her eyes.

"Well, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Lex asked her and she said absolutely nothing, at least not for a moment. "You know, the two of us, we shouldn't be on different sides. I think that we could do well teaming up to make Metropolis a better place to live."

He looked at her and she looked back at him. She didn't say anything which suited him for now, because he had plenty to say to her. And he demanded that he would be heard all of this time.

"Sure, you fly around in that ridiculous outfit, but it does catch a few eyes and you've developed as a super hero within the past couple of years," Lex said with a leer. "If you're willing to play ball, then so am I. Scratch my back, you scratch mine. With my intellect and your abilities, we can do great things. The sky is the limit, isn't it?"

She didn't say anything, rather her arms were folded and her burning gaze was still locked onto him.

"Not the talkative type I see," Lex replied to her.

"No, I have plenty to say," she said and she made her way inside his office. "The fact is I know that you built Metallo and sent him after me."

"All you may have is the word of a convict many times over," Luthor replied coldly. "And you're a vigilante with a price tag on her head. It would be a shame if someone came in to collect on that because I pressed charges for harassment."

"Yes, I might be one," she agreed, her eyes locked onto Luthor with fury. "But, you're not above the law. There will be one day where your millions will not be able to buy yourself out of prison."

Luthor chuckled. "Billions actually, but why quibble about a small details like that."

She looked at him, and her eyes glowed for a few seconds, but he glared back at her with his jaw set.

"I can't prove anything, yes," she told him, gritting her teeth. The blonde hated when someone like Luthor had a point. He was an out and out bastard all things considered. She would like nothing better than to reach forward and ring his neck. "You slip up one time, and that will be the last time."

"Well you can try," Lex said in his usual condescending voice. "But the Mayor would disagree with you and I think that his vote counts more than someone who isn't even a proper citizen of this world. And the Governor as well."

She smiled a knowing smile at him.

"Just watch your step."

She used her heat vision a stack of important looking papers on her desk, causing them to light on fire.

Luthor scrambled to get the fire extinguisher, but the damage had been done. Several pieces of paper, along with a briefcase full of money were burned to ashes. Along with a good portion of his desk sustaining fire damage.

He cursed the very day Supergirl landed on Earth, she would pay for what she did.

"Mr. Luthor, I heard something!"

"Yes, you heard something, too late for you to do anything about it, you numbskull" Lex said to the dim witted flunky on the other side of the door.

He really thought that his staff was inept on some days. And on days like this, he had no doubt.

* * *

"So, did you hear about the people from Wayne Industries coming in tomorrow?" Harry asked Karen without pre-amble.

The blonde smiled knowingly. "Well, didn't your friend tell you anything about that?"

"She might have given me the heads up, yes."

They were eating lunch in a more private place, in a nice park in Metropolis. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the clouds were fluffy, the birds were singing, and more importantly, there was no crime in the city, at least right now.

That might have be well and good most days, but after her meeting with Luthor, she was really on edge. She suspected some big anti-Supergirl propaganda sweep to hit any minute today.

Of course, the fact that she saved the day against Metallo, there were a lot of people who were on her side.

"I've got two tickets to it, it's happening at Met-U," Harry said and Karen smiled him. "That is, unless of course you have any plans."

"I don't have any plans, not any I can think of," she said, racking her brain for any ideas but she found absolutely nothing in her mind. "I heard about it actually….well rumors, tickets are hard to come by but you have your connections."

"Well, we all have our ways."

Karen was really thinking about something, hard. They were in a quiet private place, and it had been on the tip of her tongue.

"So, the Shadow Vigilante was rumored to be sighted the other day?"

"Yeah, urban legend I think," Harry said with a smile on his face. Wondering if she figured it out but he figured that two can play this game. "Then again Supergirl is getting all of the press, saving the day against Metallo."

It was very hard to argue this point without revealing anything.

"Do you ever feel like that you're on the verge of knowing a big secret, but you can't quite spit it out?"

Harry gave her a smile, and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, did you discover something big or incriminating or both?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, I know your secret!"

Karen blurted out this statement before she could even think of it and regretted it ten seconds later. Then again she was never the model of tact, but she didn't expect it to spill out of her mouth that quickly.

All she had to do was whether the short but agonizing wait that was Harry's inevitable reaction.

**To Be Continued on 7/29/2014. **


	4. World's Finest Part One

"Oh, you know my secret, do you?"

Karen Starr, Kara Zor-L, had been known to shove her own foot firmly in her mouth, and speak without engaging her brain. To her credit, Harry didn't lose it and she just called him out for being a vigilante without any kind of proof or anything. It might be a little bit embarrassing if she was wrong.

Of course, she was a quick thinker, which got her out of at least half of her problems. The blonde blinked shook her head and tried to pulling her figurative foot from her mouth.

"Well, you know, that you run the biggest new corporation in Metropolis, the SLO?" Karen asked her. "You know, if you're not with SLO, you're SOL, as the slogan goes."

"I remember that one," Harry commented with a smile, he was pretty sure that this was not really the secret that she was going to go with, but she was going to allow it anyway. "But, it's not really a state secret that I'm a part of that corporation, I mean, it's kind of an open fact, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, yes, I know, but there are just some things that you're doing, that aren't as open of a secret," Karen said, deciding to choose her words as wisely as she could. "You've been trying to stop Luthor at every turn, the entire business world has been wondering if you have it out for him."

"Lex Luthor takes everything a bit personally, doesn't he?"

"Yes," Karen said and she mentally added something to herself.

'_More than you can ever know.'_

"The fact is, the people of Metropolis do deserve options, and while STARR labs is a great option, as you well know," Harry said and Karen gave him a smug grin at that statement. "It shouldn't be the only great option that the fine people of this city have at their disposal though."

"Oh yeah, there should be more great options, I agree with that," Karen said excitedly. "You're just going to make the people of this city…..well you're really turning things on their head and I know you've been in talk with a couple of companies that are going to…well that have similar aims and are taking a very anti-Luthor stance."

"He's sweating for the first time in forever, not so smug, not so arrogant as he used to be, but yes, I'm trying to make this world a better place for all and if he suffered for it, then bonus points."

Karen blinked and grinned.

"And I'm sure that your friend has spilled the beans, hasn't she, about what I was up to?" Harry asked and Karen looked at him, so Harry had to clarify for her. "You know Patricia Swann."

"Yes, she mentioned you a time or two, in the most glowing of ways, I can assure you," Karen reminded him, taking the drink that she had and drinking it, mostly to give her something to do so she would shut up.

"I'm sure she does, my meetings with her have been nothing but positive, her father would be proud," Harry said and Karen smiled at this. Patricia would have been pleased to see Harry said that, if she had been here that was.

"He didn't exactly leave the smallest shoes to fill, you know," Karen commented and Harry smiled.

"No, he didn't, but some people are well up to working up to the legacy of their parents and then a little bit beyond it."

"Were you?" Karen asked, but then she realized that she might have said a bit too much, yet again. Harry didn't really mention much about his parents, other than the fact that they died when they were really young and when he was not even out of diapers.

Karen turned about ten shades of red, with Harry's eyes locking onto hers. The blonde wanted to find a nice hole to go in and retire for the rest of her life. But to his credit, Harry played it rather cool to be honest.

"I'd like to think that I made my own legacy."

That was a blunt statement if there ever was one but Karen thought that it was a pretty fair statement all things considered. Especially with all of what Harry did, his legacy was one that she thought that she should be proud of building.

"Okay, fair enough," Karen said and Harry let the subject pass without further comment, which was a relief to Karen.

"You know, there is a spot open for you if you want it…..I know you're in with STARR but the two companies are working closely together so…"

"You know, I might have to take it up with you in the future," Karen said, with a smile. She looked into his green eyes and saw sincerity, he wanted to help Metropolis. There must have been something in his past where he failed in helping someone, which was something that Karen could relate to.

She remembered being put on that ship, and the last thing that she saw before being rocketed off of the planet was Krypton falling. She managed to leave with a good deal of Kryptonian knowledge but not everything.

Knowledge that could help her and Harry's future plans together but the problem was telling Harry of her heritage and that was a big step, one that she was not willing to take at this point in time. Not saying that she was not willing to take it in the not so distant future, just not today.

"So, how are your classes?"

"Oh, I think that I'm doing very well in them," Karen said and Harry smiled back at her.

"So, am I going to have to create brand new records for you to break?"

Karen laughed in amusement, but she did enjoy a nice challenge or two.

* * *

The easiest way to figure out whether or not Lex Luthor was plotting was whether or not he was still breathing. The businessman was ready for pretty much anything that he could do and he was currently on the phone with one of his contacts.

"My current…..problem aside, the project is on schedule, just keep up your end of the deal," Luthor told the person over the phone. "Wayne returning would give you some difficulties, wouldn't it? But I could have thought that you had complete control over the company, that the prodigal child returning, it wouldn't be a problem."

Luthor heard his response but he didn't really want to listen to excuses.

"Keep her distracted the best you can, that shouldn't be too hard, given her reputation, there were people for the longest time who thought that she did something stupid and got herself sold into slavery overseas," Lex commented, not caring. He didn't really think that the business world was any place for females, as they were emotional, irrational, and made foolish decisions, especially when caught at the wrong time of the month. "Powers, I'm warning you…just don't disappoint me. I never took disappointment all that well and I certainly won't from you."

There were reassurances on the other side of the line but Lex thought those to be absolutely hallow. That being side, he placed the phone down and rubbed his temple, sighing long and hard.

The problem was that this was one of the more competent of his business contacts. It did make unsurping people's assets and companies a bit easier when the people there did not have that much going on upstairs. But it made dealing with them in the meantime to be a headache and a half.

Luthor tapped his fingers on the table, waiting the intercom buzzed, with Luthor's secretary on the other line.

"Sir, he's here to see you."

Lex smiled, he knew who this person was, and he was not a person who would be kept waiting.

"Well what are you waiting for, send him in!"

"At once sir," his secretary commented in a dry voice and the door opened, to reveal the imposing figure making his way into the office. He was large and cast a shadow over everything as he walked forward.

"I must say, I was surprised to hear that the legendary Lex Luthor of all people wanted to acquire my services."

"Well, to be fair, your reputation precedes you, as you were the man who broke the Bat."

"Yes, the Bat never did recover, I broke him, and the Clown finished him off, taking him down in a fiery explosion, it took both of them in fact" the large man said in the shadows. "But, I'm sure that I can receive a fair amount of credit."

"If you had not crippled him, he would not have fallen," Lex said, his father and the man behind the cowl had been business associates from back in the day. Both were gone and Lex thought that the world was a lot better without them, both of them. "That being said, welcome, have a seat my friend."

"I prefer to stand."

Lex shrugged, fair enough. Even if he stood, he would be giving up a good amount of height to this man. While he was not completely pumped up, he obviously still kept himself in good shape. Given that the rumors of the ravages of the drug that he took, he was trying not to be too dependent on it and became a formidable force without it.

"Fair enough," Lex said, this was not a man that he was going to spend much time arguing with. He was a man that could break anyone he chose, including Lex. "You know of my problem."

"Yes, this Supergirl," the man in the shadows said, cracking his knuckles together. "Did she stand you up or something?"

"Funny," Lex said, but he didn't say any more than that. "She's a danger to the city that I built, and I'm willing to pay you enough to strongly consider retirement if you do just one thing…"

"Eliminate her, I understand," he said roughly.

"I don't want her eliminated, I want her completely and utterly broken, in the most humiliating way possible, so her adoring public can see her downfall," Lex reminded him. "Do so, and I will go with triple your current rate."

"You are very generous then, Mr. Luthor," the man said in his usual crisp tone. "But…what of the other?"

"Just merely an urban legend, I assure you," Lex said, he was trying to keep his concerns about this so called Shadow Vigilante to himself, mostly because if he lost it right now, it would be bad that he would lose face.

"Sometimes an urban legend can prove to be reality, as I well know from the fabled Batman," he warned Luthor.

"Very well, if he interferes, I trust that I do not need to tell you to do your job."

"Of course not Mr. Luthor, I'm a Professional, and I will give you your money's worth and then even more."

Lex smiled, he loved it when a plan came together. Metallo might have been useful technology but the man behind it was not exactly the most equipped for the job. Now he was not going for swift science but rather an interesting combination of both brains and brawn, a deadly combination that could not be beaten no matter what.

"Excellent," Lex said with a smile on his face and he handed the briefcase to his hired thug. "This is half of the money, you'll get the other half when Supergirl is stuffed and mounted in the study in my mansion."

"Oh it is most generous, and clean bills, a rare delicacy," he said, running his fingers over the money that he had. He always had been handed filthy money dripping in grime and disease, but he took some unsavory jobs in his time.

* * *

"Wayne Industries has been known for generations for one of the top companies in the world," a man with silver hair said, standing at the top of the stage. There was plenty of applause, polite applause at that.

The demonstration from the Wayne Industries people at Met-U was there and Harry had scored some prime seats for both him and Karen. A fact she appreciated immensely.

"Derek Powers, he was the acting CEO of Wayne, after the death of the last one, his father worked on the board for years, so…you can imagine how he got his way in," Harry whispered to Karen and Karen studied the man on the stage, what she saw was not too favorable to her opinion on him.

She knew his type, businessman who was able to say all of the right things to pacify stockholders, while also doing shady backdoor dealings. He was giving a speech how Wayne Industries would continue to grow.

"I don't want to consider myself stepping on anyone's toes here in Metropolis, and I am pleased with the work my good friend Lex Luthor has done so far."

Karen wrinkled her nose and Harry looked on at amusement at the look on her face.

'_Good friend Lex Luthor, okay, I don't like you already, and I don't even know you,' _Karen thought, crossing her arms underneath her chest and leaning back in her seat.

Harry didn't catch that thought from her but her facial expressions allowed him to construct a good enough view of what she was saying, so it was all good, at least he thought so.

"Thanks to our effort to clean up crime in Gotham City, costumed psychopaths that were the rage twenty and thirty years ago are now no more," Powers continued. "And now we extend our efforts to Metropolis, where we give these criminals a chance to have a more productive life, to use their abilities for good rather than terrorizing the people. Gotham City has already built a special tasked force with reformed criminals working alongside GCPD personnel and we're going a long way to making the caped vigilante obsolete with these newly deputized agents of the law."

There was some applause, but it was the polite stoic kind of applause, the type of applause where they were only applauding to be polite.

"Thank you for your speech, Mr. Powers."

The person on the stage was the type of individual that demanded the attention of all eyes towards her. Her silky black hair offset her beautiful gorgeous blue eyes, along with a purple blouse, a black jacket, and a long flowing black skirt, along with stockings and high heel shoes, which she moved in rather gracefully.

"Miss Wayne I think…"

"It's been a long time since I've been here in Metropolis, but my father took me here on business for years sometimes," the woman said, and she smiled. "I'm the daughter of Bruce Wayne, Helena Wayne, but the legacy of my father, while great, in more ways than one, should not be something that defines me. Wayne Industries is all about each generation being better than the last, and setting brand new records, standards to strive for. And I've looked into Metropolis, and have seen two promising businesses, that I will be discussing terms of a business relationship with. The Shining Light Organization or SLO as you all know it as, and STARR Industries. I was as saddened as anyone else to hear about the death of Virgil Swann, for he was a longtime colleague of my father and he was pretty much an honorary uncle to me."

There was a moment of silence, some of the teachers at Met-U were hit hard, the lectures that Swann gave on a guest basis until his health became too much were eagerly anticipated by the students. And the teachers as well come to think of it.

"However, the legacy lives completely on through his daughter Patricia, who I'm sad to say could not make it here today," Helena said, and she acted like she was blissfully unaware of Powers seething in the corner after she took charge and took control of the speech. "And the legacy will continue to live in, in Metropolis, in the world, and in beyond."

There was a more generous applause other than the polite one that Derek Powers said.

"Metropolis has already been cleaned up thanks to the efforts of Harry Potter…..who I understand is here in the crowd amongst you as well."

'_Oh thanks a lot Helena, way to put me on the spot,' _Harry thought, shaking his head. He stood up to be acknowledge and there was plenty of clapping, along with a few screamed marriage proposals. Not that he wasn't used to that before but that was behind him.

Karen smiled in amusement, and Harry turned towards her. She had a sheepish smile on her face, as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"One of the brightest students that Met-U has ever seen, Harry has built a company in a short time that has shaken up the status quo in Metropolis, but I'm sure that Metropolis's favorite son could not be afraid of a little competition, especially when it benefits us all."

There was a certain amount of spite in her voice, for those who were a little bit eagle eared and able to hear such things.

The truth was that she, Patricia, and Lex spent a lot of the time in each other's company, unfortunately, while their fathers did business. And Lex had his issues then. Then again, she was surprised that she didn't have her issues, given her father and to a certain extent, her mother.

"Never the less, the clean energy project that SLO and Wayne are working with, is being rolled out next year," Helena said and Derek Powers looked suddenly like someone had slapped him in the face and then went and kicked him in the balls.

He knew that if he interrupted this, things could look bad but if he didn't exert his control over this matter soon, things would be worse.

The fact that she was in bed with Harry Potter, that could prove to be problematic. It appeared that she was doing more on her long trips than going out and being a party girl.

* * *

The presentation went all that well, even though Derek Powers obviously were trying to use it to subvert some younger minds to his future vision of Wayne and the partnership that he was trying to forge with Lex. Harry was amused by the way that Helena pretty much dove in and took control of what was happening in the press conference.

Harry made his way over towards her, with Karen following closely behind her.

"Something tells me that your Acting CEO wasn't really expecting our business agreement."

Helena turned towards Harry, her full attention locked on him, and a warm smile crossing her face as she looked him over.

"The key word is Acting, he's not the official CEO, in fact, effective today, I'm taking control of my company, and…..the Board would be wise to agree with that fact," Helena said and Karen raised her eyebrow at that point.

"I don't want to know, do I?"

"It's best that you don't," Helena said and she smiled. "It was nice to meet you again…"

"So the two of you have met before?" Karen asked and she looked towards the Wayne Heiress, who raised her eyebrow. She decided that an introduction of some sort was in order. "I'm Karen Starr….."

"Oh, right Patricia mentioned you, you were the one that Doctor Swann found and took in," Helena said, but she didn't say anything about that. The two shook hands with each other it was a firm handshake, with Karen taking extra care not to put too much pressure on. "And you must be something special if Harry's taken an interest in you and agreed to be your student menotr."

Karen raised an eyebrow.

"He gets dozens of requests for people to be mentored, mostly they're trying to use him as a tutor to keep their college athletes from dropping out," Helena said. "You know, the people who don't have the grades to officially get in, but they only get accepted because they're star athletes in high school."

"And the type that they think that high school never ends," Harry added, he would rather put himself behind someone with actual potential, and not someone who was one torn ACL away from taking someone's order at a fast food place.

"Well I'm privileged that you came to me…..because you requested me, and…I'm sure that the school was willing to pay you big money to get behind their star athletes and make sure they pass by the skin of their teeth."

"I don't have infinite time in the day, to deal with them," Harry said but he switched subjects. "So how was your trip?"

"Well two cancelled flights and some weird person following me halfway from the airport but other than that, it was fine," Helena said and Harry gave her a brief smile at her.

"Given some of the rumors that were flying around…"

"Do you mean the rumors that I was abducted by pirates and sold?" Helena asked. "Actually, that almost happened, but the people involved weren't very competent so I escaped."

That statement was given so casually that it amused Karen. It amused Harry as well but he was doing a better job at concealing his amusement.

And given who her father was, she was rather capable of getting herself out of any situation.

"Most people would be kind of disturbed by that…"

"My first hostage crisis was when I was five, so you just try and roll with these things after a while," Helena said with a shrug.

"What is this clean energy project, anyway?"

"Actually that's what I was what I'd like to know."

Harry, Helena, and Karen turned to see Derek Powers. The man was standing there right next to them, a calculating look upon his face and if Harry had to hazard a guess, such a look was not good.

"Well, the fabled Harry Potter, it's an honor to meet you, although I do wish Miss Wayne had informed me of the exclusive deal that she secured," Powers said, extending his hand but Harry just smiled.

"Well, you were busy with your new SCU initiative in Gotham City, and I must say, arming dangerous people like that, some people would raise an eyebrow of how you're keeping them under control."

"They've paid their debt to society," Powers said. Jervis Tetch might be long since dead but his work lived on to help put these people in line. "So, this clean energy project, Wayne does have a full plate, so as CEO, I would highly recommend shelving the project until at least late next year….."

"Actually, Acting CEO and no longer even acting because I'm back, and you'll be moving back to your smaller but still very comfortable modest office further down the hallway from mine," Helena said and Derek chuckled nervously.

"Your father liked to be this difficult…"

"Well, you should know because he never wanted you hired in the first place, funnily enough how yours snuck you in when my father's body was still cooling," Helena said and Powers once again looked at her like he'd like to say something or maybe do something but now was not the time with witnesses around here. Especially someone like Harry Potter, because he knew better.

Karen and Harry watched this byplay with interest, it was like some kind of twisted tennis match.

"I'll speak to the Board," Powers said and he walked off, trying to save face, he had already been humiliated once today, twice if you count being blown off by Harry Potter and treated as an afterthought.

"Well, he could be a problem."

"Yes, well I didn't expect him to just concede power quietly," Helena said, walking with the two away from the crowded room. There were too many people around.

"My office is up the hallway, it's secure," Harry said and Helena looked at him.

"Are you sure there are no bugs in there?"

"Believe me, I have an exterminator come by at the end of every day like clock work to make sure," Harry said and Karen could see that Helena accepted that statement.

That statement, it must have been code for something or other, but she wasn't sure what it was. She suspected that she might find out.

"The only reason why I didn't fire him was that I wanted to figure out what his angle was with Luthor."

Harry wanted to know that as well, it appeared that things were about as he needed to.

"Should I even be here?" Karen asked and Helena looked at her.

"Given the partnership that we're building with STARR and the role you're being groomed for, you're going to be part of anything that's going to be happening soon enough," Helena said, waving off Karen's protests and smiling at her.

Harry added, pouring coffee, which both of the women took graciously. "Besides, it would be kind of rude to tell you to leave after all you've found out."

Karen could tell that there was another secret and once again, she really couldn't throw any stones from her glass house because she was holding onto even more secrets than anyone likely.

How much did Helena know? How much did she guess?

There was just something about her tone that Karen picked up.

'_Don't be paranoid, that's how secrets get told before they're ready to be told,' _Karen thought and she realized that she drained her cup of coffee already.

Out of all of the earth things she had, coffee might have been among the most addicting, unless one counted chocolate. Chocolate was far and way the most addicting thing on the planet.

She did realize how beautiful Helena was and she wondered what was going on between her and Harry. Then again, she could say that they both were pretty good looking, much like she was, given that she turned a few heads in her day.

* * *

"An APB for downtown Metropolis, a group of civilians have been held hostage at the Metropolis Plaza in downtown Metropolis, I repeat, at downtown Metropolis. Then men are large and wearing masks and have military grade technology. All MCU personnel report for duty, I repeat, all MCU personnel report for duty."

There was one individual who was reporting for duty. Her all too snug outfit wrapped around her body, and her golden blonde hair flowed through the air. The red cape flapped in the wind as she made her way forward.

'_Okay, civilians, got to make sure that none of them are hurt all that much.'_

Supergirl was on the case and she could take them out, if she made her way through the roof entrance.

Lifting off the panel with her super strength, she slid down and hovered in mid-air. The blonde continued her descent, going closer to where she needed to go.

That being said, the blonde could hear forces and she paused, using her X-Ray vision to see the men, women, and some children on the ground.

It was tense but Karen could take them out, if she timed her attack right at the precise angle. She shot through the air.

CRACK!

All of them went down completely, and Karen helped the hostages up.

"Get out of here, you're safe…"

Karen was grabbed by her cape, choked in surprise and forcefully yanked back into the shadows. She was caught unaware from this sudden display of force.

"Of course they were safe, I have no intention to harm them, they are merely bait, to set the trap for you," a man dressed in a black body suit and trenchcoat with a black mask said, and he raised his large arms, to try and smash them down on her head.

Karen blocked it and pushed him back, punching him in the face hard.

"I don't know what you intended to do with that attack but…"

He hurled a silver cylinder device into the air and it erupted a loud wave of sonic energy to bombarded the hearing of anyone who was nearby. Karen managed to shield her hearing but it caused her to be caught kind of off guard. The blonde shook her head, her mind was completely disrupted.

At least long enough to get a punch to the midsection, powerful enough to knock the wind out of her.

"Just who are you?"

"You may call me Bane, I will be the one that will be responsible for breaking you Supergirl."

Supergirl dodged her large but skilled foe and slammed him down into the wall. He threw a powder into the air and the backlash caused her vision to be impaired.

"You have been protecting this city, a noble warrior, but that will make your defeat all that much more gratifying."

Bane slammed his hands down onto the back of her neck and she struggled to get it together.

She looked up and saw the red solar lamps that flickered above her. The blonde thought that she was growing weaker and that was the proof. He had done his homework.

She tried to fly towards the exit but he grabbed her from behind, slamming her down to the ground.

"Now, I've got you," Bane grunted, wrapping his large arm around her chin and choking the life out of him. She struggled, squirming out of his grip but it was hard to hold on and the breath was driven from her body.

"Yeah, you've got something, bad BO maybe," Karen panted, she could feel something choke out of her body and she nearly blacked out from the misery and the pain. She pushed him back against the ground.

Suddenly, something or rather someone grabbed Bane from behind and hurled him halfway across the room.

"Are you okay?" Arcane asked and Supergirl looked up, purple bruising around her neck.

"Solar lamps," she managed and Arcane smiled, and he lifted his hand, but stopped.

"That's actually a nice trick, releasing paralyzing gas that would knock anyone out who would be taken down by the red solar lamps."

Bane swung an axe and tried to part his enemy's hair with it, but he dodged the attack.

A silver bolt shot from the sleeve of his costume and destroyed the axe. His costume analyzed what he had to deal with.

'_The armor would cause magic to be negated, not that I could do a powerful enough spell to even ding him in my condition,' _Harry thought but he jumped up on the large man's back and stuck his spiked gauntlets right in the eye sockets of the mask.

Bane gave a loud howl, and he moved around, like a wounded bull.

"That might have been a bit extreme," Karen said, and she could still feel the ravages of suffering a beating without the yellow solar energy to heal her. "So, what do you think?"

He pulled a rocket launcher out from underneath his trench coat and fired.

"That's the thing that's a bit extreme," Harry replied gravely.

A loud explosion blew up the front of the plaza but it took all that Harry had to prevent the debris from flying out and killing anyone else.

She could see Arcane slumped over onto the ground, and she saw that he took the brunt of the explosion.

Bane rushed over and mowed them both over with his large body, and then grabbed both of them around their heads.

"And now, I have you….."

Karen managed to summon all of the power that she could to push him off, and send him flying into a stack of barrels which tipped over from the impact.

The blonde dropped on her hands and knees, panting severely and there was one thought that was going through her mind.

'_That didn't do nearly enough, got to find some sun, if I can,' _Karen thought but she could see his hand grab her foot from the debris and he pull himself up.

"Don't you get it, I have you know."

Harry had one more trick up his sleeve but he never got a chance to implement it, when there was a figure that swooped down from high above.

She was imposing, dressed in a skin tight black leather costume, that emphasized her curves, and a red bat log on the chest. It was hard to tell whether the costume was padded but one thing was for sure, it was heavily armored.

Bane turned his attention to her and gave a low rumbling laughter at her presence.

"Well there is a Batwoman…..I'm flattered…..but there won't be one for much longer."

She pulled out a retractable baton and motioned for him to bring it.

Supergirl and Arcane raised their eyebrows, well this was new. They watched this new party smash Bane in the knee cap with the baton and the large assassin turned around, raising his hands, and she dodged once again.

The fight was on.

**To Be Continued on August 1st 2014.  
**


	5. World's Finest Part Two

Bane blinked in complete surprise, he wasn't expecting Batwoman to show up after all that what happened and now he was completely thrown off his game. He only wished to take out Supergirl and the mysterious shadow vigilante but he was always for an added bonus.

Batwoman motioned for Bane to come towards her and he swung the staff but he caught it in the palm of his hand. His menacing glare was directed towards the woman that was staring him down.

"This isn't about you, child," Bane said, picking up the staff, with Batwoman hanging onto it but she dropped down.

She triggered the quick release in the staff and sent a type of gas into Bane's face, causing him to stagger back a couple of steps. Bane was slumped over, hacking and wheezing, and now Batwoman jumped up.

A huge roundhouse kick rocked Bane in the face and the man flexed his fingers, things completely looked numb.

Supergirl and Arcane watched, with Bane pressing a remote control device.

"That bomb is large enough to destroy this entire city block and anyone who leaves the building but me and doesn't enter the disarming codes, will trigger it," Bane said his hands wrapped around the pillar, and he brought it down, causing parts of the roof to fall onto their heads.

Harry blocked it, but he was exerting his energy to its fullest. Activating the anti-gravity fields on his suit gave him a slight bit more room to thrive and survive. The green eyed wizard panted and tried to hold things up.

"Don't suppose he's bluffing?" Supergirl answered, at least bringing the roof down allowed some yellow sunlight in.

"No," Batwoman said stiffly, speaking up for the first time, and she found the bomb. Opening the case of the bomb, she managed to find the wire sequence.

It was a bomb that she knew how to disarm but it needed careful precision and a strong hand. If she messed up even one simple bit, well they should be prepared for an earth shattering kaboom.

Supergirl was able to help Arcane, she wondered what kind of super powers that he had. She sensed something obviously, but that suit was working well enough for him, powers or no powers.

"There, it's done," Batwoman said.

The roof was holding up but Arcane turned to Supergirl and nodded. He managed to send a kind of sticky glue from his suit, which held the roof up.

"There crude, but it will have to do."

"So, that's, that, isn't it, but I'd imagine he'd got away," Supergirl said, the yellow sunlight was there, but she was feeling the bumps and bruises of that battle. Bane was a tough enemy and a professional, that was the obvious thing.

"He got away, for now, but he'll be back," Arcane said for a second and then he turned around.

He was not the only one who turned around, Supergirl could see that Batwoman pulled that mysterious disappearing act.

"Great, and now our mysterious bat has left the building as quickly as she came," Supergirl said and then she turned to Arcane to say something to him.

There was no Arcane. He too had vanished.

'_You've got to be fucking kidding me, right?' _Supergirl asked, Arcane vanished into the night as quickly as he arrived with a sudden and extremely obvious pop.

This was a galling thing, that was for sure, and Supergirl clenched her first together, but then she saw something that was lying on the ground.

Perhaps Arcane's getaway wasn't as clean as he intended, he dropped something and she was lucky enough to find it.

Right, lucky, sure she was.

Now Kara Zor-L, Karen Starr, she knew better, she really knew better. The fact of the matter was that there was this mysterious case on the ground, right where she could find it and it was somewhat hidden to anyone but her.

Karen picked it up and took the back exit as the Metropolis Major Crimes Unit filed their way into the front way.

Clutching it to her breast, the blonde vixen looked at it, and saw that there were coordinates.

A note briefly flashed on the screen after she committed the coordinates to memory.

**I think you're beginning to put the pieces together, aren't you? Meet me at this location. **

Now that was something that Karen was surprised by and she had her theories about Arcane. They were about to be verified, she had a feeling, but it was unwise to jump to the absolute worst conclusions with something like this.

She popped off like a cork, moving faster than a speeding bullet.

* * *

Supergirl flew to the coordinates and she was surprised, this was kind of not what she was expecting, it was a cave that was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.

The blonde knew by now by the extraordinary technology that she saw, that she should be expecting something like this.

'_Okay, there's more to this than meets the eye….'_

**Welcome Supergirl, we have been expecting you.**

The female voice was soft and sensual and Supergirl flew into the cave. There was a doorway that was opened in the back wall for her to enter further on in.

The blonde dropped down, and she recognized the same cave from where she got her Kryptonite cure many weeks back. She could see Arcane's back as the blonde heroine tentatively approached him from behind.

"I thought that you might turn up, I mean, I did leave you a good enough clue to bring you here."

Supergirl could not keep that shit eating grin off of her face as she went for the obvious answer. "Well that's kind of by design, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," Arcane agreed and he slowly rose to his feet before turning to face her. "And it's no fair trying to peak."

"What, I'm not trying to use X-Ray vision to see who's underneath the mask!" Supergirl said oh so casually but there was a look on her face to indicate that she was busted and how.

'_Or trying to sneak a peak further underneath it at something else,' _Supergirl mentally added to herself.

"There's a field that prevents anyone from seeing underneath, unless I key them in," Arcane replied. "So, you've attracted the attention of a mercenary and a top dollar one."

"So, are you thinking Luthor or am I just being paranoid?" Supergirl asked and there was a momentary smile underneath Arcane's mask.

"My dear, Supergirl, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you," Arcane said. "This Bane, he used to use a drug called Venom but all of the other test subjects and users…..well it didn't end so well for them."

Supergirl felt revolted as the images flashed on the screen of the long term consequences of exposure to Venom and what it offered to them. The blonde blinked rapidly and the fact that they were completely decomposing while living. It was enough to turn the stomach of anyone, thankfully she had nerves of steel.

"Decomposing, reduced to vegetables, not a pretty sight, Bane was a bit more savvy then most of them, keeping himself in the best of shape only without the Venom, and he's trained his body to be the pinnacle of perfection," Arcane explained. "And there are rumors that he's doing expensive medical treatments to ensure that all of the effects of Venom are purged from his body so he doesn't remain anything like the rest."

"So, that's why he accepted a job from scum like Luthor," Supergirl said.

Luthor really was spiteful to be honest and he was only going to get worse. He had security that even most governments would not spring for as well. After Supergirl's little stunt a few weeks ago, she likely wasn't going to have a chance to get up close and personal with Lex again.

"Yes, it isn't personal, merely business," Arcane told her and she sighed.

"I can tell you right now, that merely business can really get pretty fucking personal."

Harry would have to concede that point but he moved onto the next line of discussion in his investigation.

"What I want to know is…..what's the angle for this Batwoman?"

Supergirl was curious about this but Arcane was only too happy to enlighten her in on the fact.

"There was a legend known as Batman, who fought a colorful gallery of rogues, starting almost forty years ago and he finally was brought down fifteen years ago, with no one knowing what caused his demise," Arcane told Supergirl and the blonde's lips curled into a smile. "And Bane dealt with Batman in the twilight of his career, at least that's what I'm able to piece together."

Supergirl could not help but be impressed. "Wow, it looks like you've done your homework. There's a lot going on underneath that mask."

"We all wear masks, it's just some of them are less obvious than others."

Supergirl smiled, if she wasn't guilty as charged, she didn't know what to call herself.

There was this moment where one could have told the other who they were, even though it was obvious that both of them knew. Both wanted the other to make that first move.

That being said, they would have to wait, for an alarm started to kick up, which caused Supergirl's eyes to blink.

"The tracker I slipped on Bane."

She was caught completely off guard by this. "How did you slip a tracker on Bane?"

"Well he was too busy trying to strangle both of us to really notice," Arcane replied, but there was another message on his computer. "And it appears that our mysterious friend wants a meeting."

"How did she know where to send the message?" Supergirl wondered.

"She's Batwoman," Arcane said as if this explained everything and Supergirl shrugged, she guessed that it did.

* * *

Helena Wayne sat in her new and improved Batcave, the cowl off of her costume. It was funny, she never thought that she would be one to follow her father's legacy, but she was following the biggest part of his legacy.

More or less, she was trying to settle an old debt. Her appearance in Metropolis this particular week was not a coincidence, she managed to get information that Bane was meeting with Lex Luthor. The fact that she was able to pretty much undermine Derek Powers, who she had a feeling was in bed with Luthor, that was just gravy on top of everything else to be honest.

That being said, she was at the Batcave and she started to fire up the computer.

"ALFRED, I need all of the information that we have on Bane," she told the computer.

"Very good, Miss Wayne, it will be loaded in ninety seconds," ALFRED said in his usual dry British voice. The computer had been created by the late Mr. Pennyworth, using his brainwaves, with a little help from the late Lucius Fox, to help any future generations.

Helena waited for the information to come to light and she came to a sudden realization that Bane had a lot to gain financially from wiping out Supergirl.

Especially when she saw the other Venom test subjects. Bane was the only one that was holding on and that was due to the strong will power that the man possessed. Another year, maybe less, and he would be on that road. He was opting for a risky procedure to mitigate that. He was not getting any younger, but his mind was skilled and his body, despite the handicap of the drug that once strengthened him, was still as able.

The problem was that Helena had a vendetta to hash out with Bane. It was because of him that her father was broken and left in the state that he was. While he wasn't the one that killed him, that honor had to do with the clown, he did cause Batman to break, after throwing him up against a gauntlet of some of his greatest enemies.

She would find him, the tracker that she placed on him lead him to a hideout. It was a former base of the League of Shadows, a group that Bane had worked with in the past. The League disbanded after the death of Ra's Al Ghul, well the latest death of Ra's Al Ghul. There were several factions out there and about, but Helena didn't concern herself with things like that, right now.

Then there were the two heroes of Metropolis. Sure the paper reported them as vigilantes but Helena sympathized better than anyone else did. There were a lot of people who wanted the heads of anyone dressed like a bat on a pike.

Supergirl and what the police was dubbing the Shadow Vigilante. Only the barest hints of the second one found its way into the papers.

She managed to tip the scales with them against Bane. It wasn't like they were incapable, in fact they were very capable. It was just that she wanted her piece of the action and some kind of payback over Bane. Who had been the Bane of her existence for quite some time, pun completely intended.

'_I have a good idea who they are,' _she thought, sending a message to them. _'But I wonder if they know who each other are or they've figured out who I am.'_

The response to the message was prompt and quick. The dark haired woman smiled, with Arcane reporting back that he would meet them there.

She pulled the cowl up over her face and prepared to suit up and get out. She had a long night ahead of her and said night was still very young. Especially for someone who prowled in the darkness, setting fear in the hearts of the superstitious and cowardly lot.

* * *

Supergirl dropped down to the ground and Arcane followed her. The two of them would be meeting Batwoman in a few seconds.

"So, do you think that she'll show up soon?"

Arcane answered Supergirl's question without any hesitation. "If it is who I think it is underneath that mask, then she's nothing but prompt. Trust me, she's good for it."

"Oh…..wait it almost sounds like you have a good idea who is underneath that mask?" Kara asked and Arcane gave her a knowing smile, even though she quite couldn't see it underneath the mask.

"I might have a hunch, yes."

The two of them stood, there were many words that were unsaid and sure enough, Batwoman turned up next to them.

"So, I'm guessing that you slapped a tracker on him."

"That predictable, eh?" Arcane asked her.

"No, just shows that you have common sense and lured him into a false sense of security," Batwoman said and she turned to Supergirl. "What exactly did you do to piss Luthor off so badly that he would make a deal with one of the highest paid mercenaries in the land?"

"Oh you know, foiled a scheme of his, took attention away from him, same old, same old," Supergirl said waving her hand quite dismissively. "The problem is all of what I did…..can't be proven in a court of law."

"That is a problem," Arcane said, Luthor was dangerous and well protected as well. He had been able to charm his way out of trouble in the past.

That being said, he was sure Luthor was going to do something really stupid with the rate that Harry was undermining him in the business world. It might take a while, but someone like that did not really take being humiliated all too well or at all.

That being said, if they wanted justice to be done legally, it might be an extremely long wait.

"Bane is holed up in here somewhere."

"You came to the same conclusion that we did," Supergirl told Batwoman but she was stoic and all serious business as usual.

"Well, it was obvious, if one researched his past ties, and there were a couple of bases hidden deep in Metropolis, one of them underneath this warehouse district, well abandoned now, isn't it?" Batwoman asked.

Arcane smiled, he was scanning the side of the building for any traps. That being said, there didn't seem to be anything on the outside.

"So, everything secure, either he's not here, he's too confident, or…"

"He's got something else up his sleeve," Batwoman said, prepping herself for anything.

She didn't want to make this too personal, Bane was just another enemy that she needed to take down, swiftly and decisively.

And maybe a bit permanently, that was one flaw her father had, not taking down psychopaths like the clown before they killed thousands of people. Many of them children, and Helena hated to say this, but her father might be just a tiny bit responsible for a lot of death, indirectly.

That being said, she couldn't worry about that right now, that was in the past.

Arcane stepped forward, he changed into a slightly modified version of his suit. It had never had a field test yet but all of the baseline testing worked.

And he had to bring it out and use it in a practical manner sometime, otherwise things would get messy in a hurry.

"Pretty low tech lock on here," Supergirl commented, watching Batwoman pick the lock.

"All much the better, but it's what's inside that counts," Batwoman said and she slipped inside.

There was nothing but scurrying rats on the floor. Appearances could once again be deceiving.

There was a lone crate, sitting in the middle of the warehouse and Arcane stepped forward, picking up the crate.

There was a small remote control device, which Arcane hooked up to his suit and began to scan. He was not about to press a button for a remote control device without knowing exactly what said device did. There was stupid and then there was suicidal and this kind of was borderline suicidal, just a little bit, maybe.

That being said, he could hear a beep, beep, beep, sound and his eyes followed the progress of the vault door sliding open.

"And there you go, super-secret entrance to villain base."

* * *

Bane sat on the ground, cross legged, and trying to return himself to sanity. He kept his mind active, knowing that the moment that he allowed it to slip, it would go into a vegetative state.

He got to his feet and continued to make the next move on the three games of chess that he was playing simultaneously, whilst thinking of a plan to take down Supergirl. Now that the Batwoman was in the equation, the situation changed a lot.

Bane growled, making his way to his feet, and he heard someone coming down the steps.

The question was how did they find him?

He saw the crate with the remaining supply of Venom, the tubes already loaded up. He picked up one of the tube injectors, holding it in his hand. It was like holding white hot coals in his hand, and his eyes peered onto it.

The temptation was there but Bane had been fighting returning to that addiction for nearly fifteen years. He only kept them there was a constant reminder that he was stronger than that now and he was stronger than any of them.

He could see them, the Shadow Vigilante lead the charge, along with Supergirl and Batwoman.

"You know, the hunt isn't really as fulfilling when the prey willingly comes into the hunter's den."

"Oh, you didn't get the latest memo, you were the one being hunted," Supergirl said, hovering in the air, her hands on her hips and ready to attack. Now that he was distracted, it was time for someone else to make her move.

Batwoman threw a throwing dagger at Bane but he caught it in his hands.

"You're going to have to do better than….ARGH!" Bane growled with the throwing dagger exploding and knocking him back.

Arcane went behind Bane and took his legs out from underneath him. His bones cracked and snapped, the second that he landed on the ground.

He just managed to drag himself out of the way, with Supergirl trying to curb stomp him. She cracked the ground when he narrowly avoided her attack.

Bane had the venom tubes still near him and he grabbed them.

"I will have you, my honor will be restored…"

The venom tubes were summoned into Arcane's hand before he could use them.

"You've long since passed the point of that when you started using short cuts to win your battles," Arcane said and he nailed Bane with a slicing motion coming from his suit.

Bane lifted up into the air and crashed through the windows, landing onto the ground hard in the next room.

"The rate that your brain is degeneration, you might only have six months of conscious thought left….."

Bane held one of the injectors in his hand, Arcane managed not to acquire this one and slammed it into his forearm.

"And with that, you only have six hours," Arcane said, and Bane completely and utterly bulked up, his injures healing.

The problem was the Venom that he had taken was completely unstable and his muscles kept growing, including his heart which struggled and strained to pump blood.

A nine foot tall Bane towered over them, and started to smash the pillars, growling.

"I will crush you all," Bane growled, his heart struggled to pump the life blood that was needed for his body.

He just committed suicide, more or less and Harry wondered what would happen first. Would his head explode first or would his heart?

"Look," Supergirl whispered and Arcane noticed what Bane was doing.

Crushed to death by falling rubble worked as well. The three jumped back and that entire room, cinderblocks, steel, and glass all came down on top of Bane.

There was a second of silence and Bane's grotesquely pumped up arm slammed his way through the rubble, and ripped through it like it was tissue player.

"Come fucking on!" Supergirl yelled but then she heard it.

His heart struggled to pump blood and he took half of a step forward, dropping down to one knee, and then dropping down, landing face first onto the ground.

Bane was dead but that was far from the only thing that was happening. There was some kind of blipping sound.

"And he has a bomb in the base, where if he dies, anyone inside gets taken out, it's kept inactive by his heart beat," Batwoman said, she should have known that there was some kind of catch.

The trio made their way outside of the temple, with Arcane shielding it to the best of his abilities behind him.

Click, click, click, BOOM!

The rest of the temple went up in the hottest fire, including any evidence that Bane might had on him to point back to Lex Luthor.

Supergirl watched, she knew that some people were desperate and she turned to both of her companions.

Both of them who vanished without saying good bye.

'_Okay, this is kind of getting a bit annoying,' _Supergirl said, throwing her arms across her chest and giving a long and labored sigh.

She figured that now was the time to leave and see things. At least she knew the location of the super-secret Arcane lair of magic and mystery.

Which did sound like something out of a cheesy comic book, she had to admit, but then again, Karen admitted that half of her life was something out of a cheesy comic book.

* * *

"The abandoned Hackman Warehouse in Metropolis went up in flames today, but MCU were shocked to learn that the remains of the master assassin known as Bane, the man who broke Batman fifteen years ago, was found in the wreckage of the warehouse," a blonde woman on the screen said outside of the warehouse remains and the temple. "There seems to be little on the way of evidence in what Bane was doing in Metropolis but eye witness accounts indicate that the mysterious Batwoman was sighted in the area. Is she any relation to the legendary Batman or is she just some well-meaning fan who decided to play tribute to him?"

'_Interesting,' _Lex thought, watching the news report. Sure he lost the down payment but he could flush a few hundred million dollars down the toilet and not be too bothered about it. He had those kind of resources to burn.

"The rumors of a business partnership between Wayne Industries and the Shining Light Organization are picking up traction," the female on the screen said. "Helena Wayne has taken control back from the company from Acting CEO Derek Powers, and already Wayne Industries stocks are being valued higher."

Luthor crushed the piece of paper that he held on his desk. This was the first that he heard of this and the first of Powers being turfed.

"While Powers will be kept on as a consultant, many are suspecting that he may be phased out of the company and encouraged for an early retirement," the woman said and once again, one could see the smoke almost coming up from the back of Lex Luthor's head and he crumpled the ball of paper even further into his hand. "I'll have more at twenty five after the hour. Coming up, it's the Lombard Sports Report. This is Cat Grant at the Metropolis Daily News, signing off."

Lex flipped off the television screen, his lips curling into a bit of a sneer and he slid back onto his desk.

He tried to dial Powers but the man wasn't picking up.

This was not going as planned.

Then the lights went out in the building.

Some idiot likely blew a fuse and that didn't improve Lex's mood at all. Then there was something that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, grabbing him from behind, and slamming him into the wall.

"Who….what…"

Lex was slammed right through the large window of his building and he was dangled across the city streets. The man struggled against the grip of this mysterious, invisible force.

"You…..what the hell are you doing?" Lex demanded, struggling to breath. "SECURITY, SECURITY!"

"They can't get in your office, because the doors are locked and they can't get it open without the power in the building," a modulated voice said. "Amusing, isn't it, Lex?"

"You're him, aren't you?"

"Very good, I am, you think that you're untouchable just because you're Lex Luthor, but people only pretend to like you because they like your money. You are only Metropolis's favorite son until something better comes along."

"I don't know what you're playing at, I'll have your head for this," Luthor said, squirming underneath the grip of this man and he kept dangling from the window.

"No, Lex, I'll have yours," the young man said, and he kept dangling him from his grip and Lex tried to escape his grip.

Lex found himself dangling from a gargoyle in the window, he pretty much was in a position where someone could pull him up, but the rain water was coming down and the gargoyle was getting pretty slick.

There was a few seconds where he tried to hang on and finally the power came back down on the building.

The doors opened and Lex looked at the security guards, who gawked at him.

"PULL ME UP YOU IDIOTS!" Lex yelled but his grip slipped from where he was hanging.

It was only his luck that there was some window scaffolding that was set up, but his legs landed hard, shattering every single bone in them. He blacked completely out, with lightning flashing through the sky.

The scaffold creaked and threatened to fall down and Luthor's security staff was not the brightest bulbs in the box.

It wobbled perilously with Lex trying desperately to hang on but he was failing from where he stood.

* * *

Arcane sat at the lair, he was waiting for Supergirl to appear. He suspected that after his disappearing act, she would have tracked him down.

Sure enough, she appeared, her cape blowing behind her.

"You do have a busy life, don't you?" Arcane asked her. "But I guess that super powers help you juggle all that you do."

"Well…..what are you talking about?"

"Well between classes, work at STARR Lab, and being Supergirl, you do have a full life, don't you?"

The blonde's mouth hung open, her expression kind of priceless to be honest.

"You've figured it out as well…."

"I'm sure most people are distracted by that amazing red "S" of yours," Arcane told her and she smiled.

"Well given what it's attached to, I guess….it's really a family crest, someone decided that it should stand for Supergirl, and the name struck…"

"Funny you're called Supergirl, when it's obvious that you're all woman."

She smiled, bright blue eyes meeting his.

"So, did you figure it out, or do you want me to reveal it?" Arcane asked after a second and the blonde looked at him.

She played coy, mostly because she enjoyed the game that they were playing. "Reveal what?"

"Oh you want to play that game…"

"You know, I do want to properly thank the person who bailed my ass out of trouble at least two times now."

"Yeah," Arcane commented lightly, staring her down. "It was at least two times."

"At least, and I'm sure that there will be plenty more times in the future," Supergirl replied. "So, you figured it out…"

"Yes, Kara, I did," Harry said, using her given Kryptonian name which had been given in the press when Supergirl went public and smiling at her, his mask slowly retracting a little bit. "Is this a big enough hint for you…"

"That you're Harry Potter….yes I figured that out a while ago," Karen said with a smile on her face, looking at him and she could see his face. "You know, I was about ready to blurt out what I learned…..when I told you that I knew your secret."

"I figured as much, you were a bad liar in there, with how abruptly you changed the subject."

"Yeah, but I'm getting better…..so did you have any interest of me because I'm Supergirl or was it because….."

"Well, I had a theory that you were Supergirl, it was just easy to put the pieces together, but it was your grades that put me onto your trail, " Harry confirmed for her.

"So, how often were you looking out for me before you met me?"

"Now, Kara, a gentleman never tell his secrets, especially if he was a wizard," Harry said and Kara was interested in this.

"Are you….wizard, really?"

"Yes, Kara, really," Harry told her, a smile crossing his face when he looked at her. "You're an alien from another planet and you think that the wizard thing is a bit of a stretch."

"Well no, come to think about it, and there were magic users on Krypton…"

"You do have the potential for it, I can feel the aura around you," Harry told her and the blonde placed her hands on her hips, which was an attractive look for her.

"That sounds like a cheap pick up line if there ever was one," Karen told him and Harry laughed.

"It kind of is to be honest but…"

"I don't mind, I really don't," she said looking him over. "So I guess that our secrets are pretty much on the table…"

"I thought that you would force the issue a bit sooner to be honest."

Karen smiled. "I can be really patient when I choose to be."

She stepped closer but Harry did not back off.

"And I want to thank you for all of your help, both as Karen Starr and both as Supergirl."

Karen wrapped her arms around Harry and Harry returned the favor. Their lips met in an explosive kiss.

There was something that flashed through both of their minds, a sense of familiarity. They could have sworn that they done this before but they weren't going to complain too much. Their arms entangled around each other, with their tongues trying to battle each other for domination.

The kiss lasted a long time, but not long enough as a distress signal caused Karen to jerk her head back.

'_Really, now of all times.'_

"I guess this looks like a job for Supergirl," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"That sounds like something out of a cheesy comic book, but I guess it fits," Karen said and she placed her finger on his neck, running it down briefly across his chest plate. "We'll finish this later."

She gave him another quick kiss and bolted off, but going slow enough so she could tease Harry a little bit by swaying her hips when she departed.

"We shall."

**To Be Continued on August 5****th**** 2014. **


	6. Interactions

Karen smiled; one would say that the truth would set someone free. The entire secret identity thing, well she read the autobiographies of some retired heroes, who said that it was murder for their social life, the secrets that they had to hold from the ones they cared about. To the point where they considered giving up the life. But some of them admitted that they could not get rid of the rush that came with being a hero.

The blonde had to admit that she felt that rush every single time that she came out there but now that she found someone that she could share that experience with, she could have even more of a rush.

Needless to say, she found out a fair bit about Harry, but she had to admit that there were pretty good reasons why he didn't want to talk about his past all that much and Karen had to respect that to be honest. The blonde was dressed in a nice red dress that hugged all of her amazing curves. Her blue eyes shined out brightly and a nice pair of stockings covered her legs.

She waited for the door to open, and she could see Harry standing there, dressed in a nice suit. He looked like the vision of perfection as far as she was concerned.

Harry smiled at her, looking over her body. The dress was something that added to her beauty but at the same time, made sure that it left something to come, and Harry was perfectly okay with that. His green eyes traveled over her body and he beckoned the blonde to follow him.

"You look beautiful Kara."

"Thanks, you look pretty good yourself," Karen said, she didn't even recall the interview that she gave all that time ago, when she revealed that her birth name was Kara Zor-L, but Harry pointed it out to her. Boy, where did the time go anyway? "So, are you ready to go?"

"I've been ready since the moment we arranged this first official date."

Karen wasn't going to say that they might have been technically dating since the first day that they met, although her studies weren't going to be the topic of conversation for this one.

Not that she wasn't pretty proud of how well that she was doing. Rather the blonde followed Harry, her arm wrapped in his, with both of them making their way down the steps of his apartment to his nice sport's car.

It was a picture perfect day in Metropolis, there was not a cloud in a sky, or a hitch in the arrangements. That being said, Karen hoped that she had some unrestricted time with Harry.

"Rumor has it that Lex Luthor is recovering from his little ordeal, that'll put him on the shelf for a while," Harry said and Karen's eyes flashed with amusement.

"Good, I hope that he got the message."

Harry thought that Luthor had the dumbest luck possible, because a fall like that should have crippled him at the very least.

"And he's not having a good time in the business world either, as SLO has replaced LuthorCorp as the favorite corporation of choice in Metropolis."

Karen grinned once again, the two of them driving to a nice park in Metropolis, where they could have their picnic. For October this was a nice enough day, so they wanted to make the most of it.

"After all you've been through, I thought that someone like you would want to have a quiet life…..I mean no offense," Karen said and Harry smiled, setting up the picnic lunch that he had provided.

"None…..taken," Harry said with a smirk. "There's a lot to be done in this world, although the people here appreciate it more."

"A lot of people do," Karen said, but it was just bad that the politicians in charge didn't really appreciate her standing. The police did, the normal citizens on the street did.

"Well, a lot more will now."

Harry placed the latest edition of the Daily Planet in front of Karen who read the headline that described many of the heroic feats of Supergirl recently, including saving a bus of children from going over an unfinished bridge when the bus driver had a heart attack.

"I'm sure that's going to remind people that you've done a lot of good from the city," Harry said and Karen looked at him with a surveying look, chewing on her sandwich.

"You didn't have to….."

Harry placed a finger to her mouth and looked her in the eye.

"I learned a lesson far too late that the press is a vital tool, and if people like Luthor can manipulate it before you do, then you're fighting an uphill battle. It's a necessary evil to deal with."

Karen nodded, she would have to agree with that to be honest.

'_The last of our kind, the both of us,' _Karen told, taking a large swig from the juice that she had.

"Wayne Industries is now moving along forward as well, without any difficulities, the Board agreed to send Powers back to his modest office down the hallway," Harry said with a smile.

"I don't suppose you would have anything to do with that."

Harry smiled and decided to answer her question with a very obvious statement, deciding to offer a strawberry dipped in whipped cream.

Karen took it into her mouth, her tongue brushing against his finger very sensually, with the blonde nibbling on it.

"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies."

Karen decided to return the favor, feeding Harry a strawberry of his own with a smile.

"It's just that…..well it's obvious that you and her have been meeting together a lot," Karen said with a smile.

"Are we trying to imply something, Miss Starr?" Harry asked.

"Absolutely not," Karen said, nearly jumping up, which gave the lovely effect of making her breasts bounce before him. That was an alluring sight to say the very least.

She looked into his dazzling green eyes and they were something that she could get lost in forever.

Karen actually didn't mind sharing Harry, as long as she came first or any other versions of her came first.

She wondered where that thought came from, that seemed oddly specific. Granted, she had read theories about alternate universes and all that.

"Are we lost in space?" Harry asked, and he decided to grab Karen, and pull her into a nice kiss.

The blonde was shocked but she returned the favor and playfully grabbed Harry by the shoulders, pushing him back onto the ground, getting on top of him. The blonde's tongue worked into his.

Harry could feel her breasts press against his muscular chest and her lips press against his, it was like feeling fire onto his mouth. The green eyed wizard explored her body with his hands and she did the same thing with his. Things were getting even more heated by the second.

Karen thought that she couldn't hold back much longer. She was not ashamed of her body after all and therefore she wanted to show it off. After all, if you got it, flaunt it.

The blonde undid Harry's shirt, her hands roaming over his muscular chest and he had nothing to be ashamed about her. She could feel his hardness pressed against his thigh and it looked as good as the time that she waited for him, why he showered.

She was only human…..well actually not really, but her point still stood. She did have needs after all.

Harry reached up with a smile, his hands on her side but suddenly, a silent alarm caught both of them off guard.

"Well, guess the party's over."

Karen shook her head, being Supergirl was good and all but those retired heroes had a point, it was kind of a bitch for a person's social life.

Harry smiled, he could see her change into her Supergirl outfit, and a brief flash of her nude body caused a smile to spread over his body. It was pretty much by design what she showed, he had a feeling. Not that her body wasn't all that grand as well, with her tight blue and red top forming over her full breasts, showing her nice stomach, and also her flowing red skirt that might have grown a bit shorter since she last had the costume.

"So, are you coming?"

"Well that might be the problem," Harry replied to her and Karen smirked at it.

"Down boy, I'm sure there will be other chances," Karen said playfully.

'_Likely after I murder every single criminal in the city,' _Karen thought, but she was half joking.

She watched with Harry pressing his watch and his costume grew onto himself, armor and all.

'_I need to get me something like that.'_

"So, what is that, some kind of nano-tech armor?" Karen asked him and Harry smiled.

"Pretty much, yes, so are you ready?"

Supergirl and Arcane were ready to roll.

"So, there's a charity ball that Helena Wayne is holding in Gotham City this weekend, are you interested in going?"

"Patricia mentioned that, and she said that she might attend, but if you're asking me…"

"She invited me, she thinks that it would be best if I made an appearance, the stuffed suits at Wayne Industries are afraid of me for some reason," Harry said and a smile crossed his face.

"Yeah, I'll go, of course," Karen said, her skirt shifting in midair, which made Harry able to get a view of her panties. Not anyone else mind you because she was moving at super speed but she had a feeling that Harry could slow down her super fast movements with his mind.

Not that she was complaining, oh she was not complaining, not in the slightest. Arcane and Supergirl dropped down to get a good look at what their enemies were doing.

They were using some kind of drill to burrow underneath the bank and they had a tank to boot.

Karen smiled, that was just child's play for her. Cracking her knuckles, she locked eyes with Harry and the two of them made their way inside.

* * *

"You actually almost fucked him in the park."

Patricia said this to Karen and the blonde turned towards her friend. She was dressed in a nice black dress on her way to the charity ball that weekend. They had not really had a chance to talk, Karen was busy with her studies and saving the day, and Patricia was busy with the budding three way partnership between STARR, Wayne, and SLO.

"Well, if you must put it so crudely…..yes, I did," Karen said without any shame.

"So, taboos are far different on Krypton than on Earth…."

"It's not just that, it's just that, underneath the yellow sun, my hormones could get strong, it's hard to hold myself back, but most of the time since then…..well Harry has been about as busy as you are on the business front and the teachers have started to bury us underneath a mountain of homework," Karen told Patricia and she placed her hand underneath her chin. "I don't know how the people without super powers cope with that."

"You know, when we tested your powers, I didn't know that super libido was a part of them," Patricia said, the two of them walking down the winding set of stairs. They flew to the hotel in Gotham City, one of the nicer parts of Gotham City.

She just hoped that she wouldn't get mugged regardless, although she had the best bodyguard.

"So, there are a lot of people out there that's talking about, you, you are getting pretty famous, even outside of that tight costume that you wear," Patricia said, with a teasing glint in her eye towards Karen. "There are rumors that you, Helena Wayne, and Harry are in a threesome relationship."

"It's a work in progress," Karen said shrewdly and Patricia blinked for a second, that was not quite the response that she expected. "Tonight could be the night that something breaks on the Harry front, you know."

"Oh, I know," Patricia responded to her, with a smile, and she could say that Karen chose the absolute best that she could have in Harry Potter.

"You know, if you want a night with him, I'm sure that I could convince him…"

"Karen, I don't know where that idea got in your head," Patricia said and she looked at Karen with a teasing glint in her eyes. "It's almost like you're trying to build him a harem…"

"First of all it's a collective, and second of all….being the Alpha of a strong Alpha Male like Harry, that's a source of pride," Karen said with a smile on her face and speaking of the man, here he is.

Karen rushed forward but stopped, realizing that tackling Harry through the front wall of Wayne Manor might not endear themselves to their party guests.

That being said, she stopped, giving Harry a strong hug and a powerful kiss, which he returned, overpowering her which was quite a feat.

Patricia watched the scene next to her, kind of amused all things considered. And she would be lying if she didn't say that she was the tiniest bit aroused by what she was saying.

Karen and Harry got it out of their systems and broke apart. The grin was not fading from Karen's face any time soon and she turned around to acknowledge the fact that Patricia was still there.

"Oh, by all means, take your time."

"It's good to see you again, Miss Swann, although the last time I did, your father was still alive," Harry said with a smile and he reached forward, taking her hand and planting a kiss on it, which caused shivers to go down her spine.

"I think that he knew that his research would go on, so it was his time to go," Patricia said, managing to reboot her brain from the kiss on the hand. Karen must have tolerance of steel to manage to withstand one of those on the lips. His lips could be registered as lethal weapons. "Although he was an advocate and a follower of your work, even after he didn't make any more appearances in public with his health failing."

"Glad to see that he thought so highly of me."

"There are many people who think extremely highly of you, Doctor Potter," Patricia replied, trying to keep herself on a steady level and needless to say, the three of them went in together, with Karen taking Harry's arm and Patricia following them, rather amused.

"Harry, it's good to see that you showed up."

Helena stood there, looking rather stunning in a flowing blue dress that emphasized her curves. They were not as ample as Karen's but it was nothing to sneeze at and she was about as good as any non-super powered female could hope for.

"Are you kidding, I wouldn't miss it for the world?" Harry asked and Helena stepped forward, giving him a kiss, right in front of a group of men who looked to be currying her favor.

Helena stepped back, with Karen raising an eyebrow. The Wayne Heiress, knowing her reputation full and well, and deciding to milk it.

"I'm sorry, how rude of me," Helena said, seeing that the cameras were right there. She heard of the rumors that were flying through the tabloids as of late and she decided that she'd really give them something to talk about.

Karen could feel Helena's hands on her hips and the dark haired woman leaned forward, kissing her straight on the lips. The blonde managed to return the kiss for a little bit.

"And now, I'm the one feeling cheated," Harry whispered Patricia, who smiled and patted him on the shoulder in a consoling manner.

Karen pulled away and turned towards Harry. "You know, all things considered, I wasn't really expecting that one."

"I'm sure you weren't," Harry told her and Karen crossed her arms over her chest, her lips curling into a pout.

"Well, I wasn't," Karen protested, defiance in her voice and Harry smiled, patting her on the top of her back, and the two of them decided that it would be best to enjoy the party.

Harry nearly ran headfirst into a blonde who wore a slinky black dress and was admiring the scene. He could have sworn that she was looking at Helena's ass, but perhaps he was imagining things.

"Sorry, I didn't…..I wasn't paying attention," the blonde told him and her eyes averted up to the painting. "It's just that my family is a big fan of the arts, and…The Wayne family has one of the extensive art collections in all of Gotham."

She stopped and blinked, with a smile crossing her face and something hit her with the not so subtle force of a freight train.

"You're Harry Potter, aren't you?"

"Well, I see my reputation follows me, what can I do for you Miss….."

"Walker, Melanie Walker," she told him, the blonde shifting, and adjusting her glasses, staring at him with a smile. "You broke a lot of records, and well you have a lot of fans."

"Would you be one of them, Miss Walker?" Karen asked with a smile, and Melanie looked up at her, because Karen was more than a head taller than her.

"Well, I think that you better than anyone else would admire my good taste, if I was," Melanie said boldly when she looked Karen in the eye.

Karen smiled, she had to admire the girl's honesty to be honest. Harry could see Helena in the corner, talking to a pair of fine looking females. It seemed like that the only male she really wanted to give the time of day was him, although given some of the figures that were around here, and looked to be wanting to get into her pants, Harry couldn't say he blamed her.

Some were old enough to be her father, and even older than that.

That being said, Harry made his way over to the hostess of the party, she smiled. She was talking to a beautiful young blonde in a tight white dress, with her curves overflowing, and there was a dark skinned female that was standing next to her as well.

"Is this your boyfriend, Helena?' the blonde said, before helping herself and Helena opened her mouth, but the blonde looked up his body.

"No but…"

"You kissed him you know, you might not want to send him mixed signals," the dark skinned woman teased but then again, it was very tempting to kiss him.

Patricia made her way over, to join the fun, while Karen would be joining them shortly.

"I thought I'd recognize you two bundles of trouble anywhere," Patricia said with a smile on her face, approaching the two of them.

"Trouble, weren't you the one who…"

"That was years and years ago, get over it," Patricia said, cutting off what she knew was an embarrassing story and Harry looked at her, to the two girls, with interest dancing in his eyes.

"This is Sapphire Stagg and Tamara Fox, I went to Gotham City University with them, and reconnected with them when we did business," Helena said, and she had a lot of apologizing to do to Tamara in particular, given the disgraceful way they treated her father Lucius after Helena's father died. The man gave the best years of his life to that company and was shuttled further down the hall, until he went out the door.

Helena thought it was fitting that Derek Powers was going through the same thing, given that he was the main architect.

"Sapphire Stagg….the CEO of Stagg Industries…"

"Yes that one," Sapphire said, after her father got himself killed some years back, she needed to step back and redo his damaged reputation. Stagg made a lot of money but there was a fair amount of ill-will towards the community to be honest. "But I…"

"I know, you've done a lot of good."

"The sins of the father, they're often visited upon the daughter," Sapphire said and there was a long wistful sigh that went from her lips.

"Well, your father might be rolling over in his grave knowing what you've done to his company," Helena said and Sapphire smiled.

"Given that you've inherited your father's…..nocturnal reputation, I'd be surprised if he isn't rolling over in his grave as well," Sapphire said and Tamara smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Harry, don't mind those two," Tamara said, shaking his hand with a smile on her face. "And you too as well Patricia…..it's too bad that Kate couldn't join us, the entire gang would be back together again tonight."

"Not sure that would really be a good thing," Patricia said in a warning.

"Oh, you mean you don't want to relieve the glory days, of hiding people's clothes when they hit on us in all of our drunken glory," Sapphire said with a smile in his face.

Karen was amused, she wanted to hear more of this but Helena stepped away. She could see several famous celebrities, including Vicki Vale, who still looked good for her age despite being on the North side of forty. But that was what exercise and healthy living would do to you.

"It's a nice night though, isn't it?" Karen asked to Harry.

"Almost a perfect night," Harry said and he resisted the urge to say that the night was too perfect, because he didn't want to jinx anything.

Helena made her way up to the podium, and she cleared her throat, preparing to give a speech.

"I've been all over the world over the past couple of years, I'm sure some of you assumed that I wouldn't be back, and I'm sure many of you out there were hoping that I wouldn't be back," Helena said with a knowing smile and she could see some of them shifting guiltily, something that she took great satisfaction out of. "Wayne Industries lost its way since the death of my father, but I assure you that with these new partnerships, we're looking for a brighter and btter world, along with a brighter and better Gotham City. With their permission, I would like the guests of honor for this party, Harry Potter, of the SLO Corporation, and Patricia Swann and Karen Starr of STARR Industries."

Harry was given the head's up that this was coming and obviously Patricia did as well but Karen looked on and shrugged, she was just deciding to go with the flow.

"Helena couldn't have said it better herself, Wayne Industries was something that was a foundation of Gotham City, and brought this city through some very good times, even when there were a lot of criminals on the street," Harry added with a smile on his face. "And this is a brand new beginning in Gotham City, and not only for Gotham City, but in the rest of the world."

Derek Powers stood in the shadows, watching. He knew that being moved back to his old office was only one step away from getting pushed out the door. There was still a couple of tricks up his sleeve. He couldn't deal with Luthor, Luthor was in a foul mood after his encounter with the Shadow Vigilante.

"I'll concur with both of my counterparts," Patricia said, stepping up to the podium and giving her speech. "And the three of us, we're going to build a business empire that will give back ot the people that need it the most….."

The doors of Wayne Manor blew open suddenly and it jarred everyone out of their attention towards the speech on the stage. There were five individuals rushed their way into the Manor, dressed like Playing Cards.

The leader, the obvious King, held his staff in the air. It was fairly high tech and he pointed it towards the crowd in a haphazard manner.

"Alright, all you need to do is part with your valuables, and no one needs to get their hair messed up," the King said in a posh British accent.

The Queen, dressed in a skin tight white bodysuit that hugged all of her womanly curves, turned around, and she smiled. "Oh, the art of this mansion, it's completely exquisite."

"No time for window shopping….." the King said and his wife gave him the look. "Honey, we came for the valuables."

"But that's an original…."

The young son, Jack, made his way forward, with his sister, the alluring Ten, stepping forward, her curves emphasized in the skin tight body suit that she was wearing. The large and brooding Ace followed behind them, cracking his knuckles.

"They're like this over every heist," Ten muttered, disgust brimming through her voice and suddenly, there was something that swooped down from the ceiling.

The Batwoman appeared in front of her and Ten went to nail her with a punch, but Batwoman grabbed her around the wrist and pulled it back, before hurling her to the ground like she was nothing.

"Hey, no fair picking on my sister, she's not as good of a fighter as I am," Jack said, and he pulled out a pair of glow sticks, running at her.

Batwoman dodged the attack, and grabbed the young punk around the back of the head, slamming him down onto the ground.

The King swung his staff at Batwoman, but Supergirl show forward, grabbing the staff from his hand, and kicking the large man in the face.

Ace grabbed her from behind in a gripping bearhug but Supergirl flipped over the back of his head, and swung a super powerful punch at his chest. The punch cracked through the chest plate and the blonde pulled her way away from him.

She wondered who she was dealing with.

Ace made his way around but four throwing daggers hurled through the air. All of them sliced him through the tendons and a result knocked the large man down to the ground with a thud.

King rushed forward, his large staff primed and ready to humble Supergirl, but she aimed her heat vision at it, burning his staff to cinders.

The blonde then kicked him, causing to land right into the caviar, which was absolutely disgusting to say the very least.

"As always, I have to pick up the slack when you don't hold up your end, but that figures," The Queen said with a smile and she turned to her children. "Playtime's over, children, time for the grownups to take charge."

The woman pulled out a deck of playing cards but these weren't any playing cards, they packed an ionic charge that would have an explosive ending to any party guess.

The explosion blew up the dining hall of Wayne Manor and all of the guests scurried around.

Karen sighed, people would have to panic like chicken's with their heads cut off, which made saving them difficult.

The Royal Flush Gang slipped out the back door, only managing to acquire a few valuables to be honest.

No one was hurt, but they had gotten cleanly away.

Helena returned from the other side, and Sapphire and Tamara turned around towards her.

"Where were you?' Sapphire asked Helena.

"I ducked in to call the cops but….they got away didn't they?"

"Pretty much, yes," Harry said, he had left a holographic copy of himself standing amidst the crowd because it would raise too many questions if Karen, Helena, and he would have all disappeared at the same time.

The Royal Flush Gang, he could have sworn that they were around at the height of the original Batman, but perhaps a little bit of research was necessary.

"Wish they wouldn't have gotten away," Karen whispered to Harry, returning back to his side.

"At least you destroyed the King's overly large staff," Harry told her and Karen corked her eyebrow. "He must have been compensating for something with that one."

"Judging by how annoyed his wife was, I would have to say yes, but an attempted theft kind of puts a damper on the party."

Melanie poked her head from behind the sofa. "Is it….is it safe to come out now?"

Harry looked at her, nodding. "They're gone….they didn't get anything, they were chased off…..by Supergirl, Batwoman, and….the Shadow Viglante."

He hated that name, he really did but that was the name that the press was officially calling him so calling him anything else would lead to a huge blinking beacon.

"Miss Wayne, a word if you please about the robbery…"

Vicki Vale hadn't lost a step and she had been right in the middle of all of the chaos. She would have had her head taken off by flying shrapnel if it hadn't been for Supergirl, but that being said, she recovered quite nicely.

* * *

"Supergirl once again assisted in saving the day at Wayne Manor but the notorious Royal Flush gang is still at charge, now we go over to Gotham City where Vicki Vale is on the scene with a special news report."

Lex turned off the news report in disgust, his leg wasn't healing all that well and he was helpless. His minders were being paid well but the greatest doctors money could buy could not find a way to repair his legs, they came to the conclusion that they had to heal him naturally.

One of his scientists barged into his room, without even knocking.

"If this isn't a way to get me to walk again, I don't want to hear it," Lex said crossly.

"We found some more of the Kryptonite….."

"You obviously haven't received the memo about how useless it is now since Supergirl found a way to shield herself from it," Lex said, and his patience was completely and utterly at an end. His leg was propped up and his bed could easily turn to a wheel chair thanks to the science that Luthorcorp had available for it.

"But this isn't green, it's red….."

"Red Kryptonite?" Lex asked, looking at the scientist, his interest actively piqued.

"I've never seen anything like it, it must have passed through a cloud of red cosmic dust or something," the scientist said and Lex looked at him, interest flashing through his eyes.

"Or something?" Lex muttered. An educated man using such childish vernacular was amusing.

"The Kryptonite is much more potent in radiation, to the fact that it causes the scientists working with it to become restless and agitated with each other….."

"If the red Kryptonite affects humans, then it might negate any shield that Supergirl would have to block the green Kryptonite," Lex said and he had a good idea where he wanted to go with this, it was all about a matter of planning to be honest. He was a businessman and he was a scientist.

It was time to see what this Red Kryptonite could do against a Kryptonian.

**To Be Continued on August 8th 2014.  
**


	7. Crimson

Autumn weather was in full force, not that Karen minded the breeze blowing into her face. It was before classes at Met-U which meant that it was a perfect time for some crime fighting. Her and Harry were going to have a date after school, and Karen decided that tonight was going to be the night that they were going to take their relationship to their next level. She had a good feeling, a very good feeling about that.

It would have been taken to the next level at least twice, if she hadn't been cock blocked by someone committing a crime. That being said, the blonde rushed forward, seeing a woman who was backed off, with two knife wielding psychos. They had ugly leers on their face and Karen could see that they were dangerous and meant a lot of business.

Why was it that every time she had plans, some knife wielding psycho decided to attack?

She dropped down onto the ground, the blonde looked towards them and spun one of them around.

He went flying into the trash where he belonged, causing it to knock over. He scrambled to his feet but slipped in the trash, falling backwards and knocking himself out.

"You know, I don't think that you want to enjoy your pal there, so why don't you just give up?" Karen asked and the man went towards her, slicing at her with a knife.

The woman watched, in terror, but the blonde blocked the knife, bending it with her hand and then she kicked him right in the ribs. She picked him up by the scruff of the neck and hurled him hard onto her partner.

Both of them were ready and primed to be picked up by the police. Supergirl smiled, it always felt good to have a job well done. The worst thing was she didn't break a sweat.

She turned towards the would-be victim, a young brunette in her early twenties, she looked like she had a decent body. It was obvious what the crime was for, and the jewelry on her was an added monetary bonus as well.

"T-thank you," she said, her voice trembling and the poor girl was shaking, barely able to keep her head up and Karen smiled towards her.

"Don't think me, it's just….it's just what I do," the blonde told her and the brunette nodded.

"I couldn't even imagine what those two would do to me…..I want to thank you…..I mean you're amazing, helping save the day like that, every day, and with that power you can do anything in the world."

The blonde smiled, despite the fact that it wasn't the reason why she was in the super hero business; it was nice to be appreciated.

"I want to thank you….give you something for your trouble…I mean, you do so much and get nothing in return," the woman said breathlessly, almost tripping over her words but she managed to hold on.

"You don't have to do that….."

She caught Supergirl in a hug, which was kind of awkward to say the least, but it did convey her thanks for being saved.

She pulled a necklace from her purse with a glowing red pendant hanging from it.

"Here….take this…..you can have it, as a gift, from the people of Metropolis, appreciate all that you've done," the brunette said, her voice quivering as she held out the necklace.

Karen looked at it, the pendant did look beautiful but she didn't know. It seemed to be kind of….tacky to wear jewelry. That being said, the brunette looked kind of insistent, almost pleading with her.

"Please, just think…..it would be an honor to thank you…..and…."

"Alright," Supergirl said, she didn't want the poor girl to break down in tears, which looked to be the case.

She breathlessly took the necklace from the female, it did look pretty nice, she would have to admit that much.

And she did put it on, why wouldn't she. It did rest nicely between her breasts, but she supposed that it would look better on her when she was out of costume.

That being said, the blonde moved off, the red glinting in the sun, and she felt a rush of adrenaline as she shot into the air.

The blonde was thinking about Harry, normally they met during lunch for a little bit and Karen licked her lips, she knew what she'd like on that particular menu. Maybe she would jump Harry's bones right then and there and take him there.

The thought of what she could with him made her panties stick to her, and she closed her eyes, feeling an increasing rush of warmth fill her body.

The rush that she felt, the adrenaline pumping through her veins, it was second to none and she could not wait for the inevitable. Then again she normally felt rather worked up after a morning patrol but that was something else.

The brunette watched Supergirl fly off with a smile and she looked down at the thugs.

"Mr. Luthor will bail you out in a week, we need to make this look convincing enough, and if you walk today, she'll suspect that something is up," the brunette said, looking over her shoulder. There was no other vigilantes in the shadows, at least that she could see. She decided to dial up the boss himself. "Mr. Luthor."

"Is the package delivered?" Lex asked.

"Yes, it is," the brunette confirmed to her boss.

"Excellent, expect a bonus," Lex said and the brunette could almost picture her boss rubbing together his hands on the other side of the phone in glee, mostly likely because he was.

That being said, the woman could not help but feel some kind of a rush about what was happening. Even though she was playing a part, seeing her up close and personal, that had to be the thrill of her life, perhaps just a little bit.

Still the red rock would cause her to give into her most primal urges and she would be disgraced, just like Lex Luthor wanted.

'_The boss really holds a grudge,' _she thought, but never the less, she prepared to play the part of the victim that had been saved by the hero, as the goons on the ground nursed their injuries.

Of course, there was really no acting needed on their part, because Supergirl really did knock the snot out of them.

* * *

"Powers isn't given you any trouble, is he?"

Harry was sitting outside of Met-U, waiting for Karen to show up for their lunch together and he was conducting some business with Helena over the phone whilst he waited.

"No, he's actually been quiet, which means he's up to something," Helena said and she looked at Harry. "The secure line that we set up, it should hold."

"Yes, because I'm sure Luthor has all of the traditional channels tapped and with his high powered satellites, he does have the resources to do just that," Harry said, the cell phone clutched between his fingers. "He's sweating….especially after the encounter that he had…"

"I heard rumors that he was found on a broken scaffolding set up, dangling, with two broken legs," Helena said, and she was not going to say the other part of the theory. She knew that he knew and he knew that she knew that he knew so there was really no reason to take this conversation any further.

"Well, maybe," Harry told her with a smile on his face. He hoped that warning would correct Luthor's behavior. The next warning wouldn't be a warning, because Lex would skip the hospital next time, even though if this warning would have likely killed him, he wouldn't complain. But unfortunately he didn't.

The problem was doing it in a way where Supergirl would not get blamed by the idiots in charge of the city.

That being said, the man was on his best behavior. Sure he was up to shady evil businessman things, but there had been no attempts on Karen right now. So he was willing to just take him down a peg in the business world as opposed to take him down personally.

"So, we're going to launch it on the 30th, right?"

"I don't think people have realized how long we've been working together on this, while Powers is working on whatever he was for Luthor, speaking of which, have you had any luck on trying to figure out what that was?" Harry asked her and Helena answered negatively.

"No, I'll give that slippery bastard some credit; he managed to wipe out whatever he was doing from the system."

"There's always a backdoor, we'll just have to find a way to exploit it," Harry said and the backdoor could potentially lead to something that would get Luthor into big trouble, legally speaking.

At least that was the theory but as Harry reminded himself, Luthor always had a good way of covering his liabilities.

Harry was distracted by something, a low sensual voice that said, "Hello Harry."

The young man was caught with this vision of beauty before him. Karen was standing there alright, her beautiful face shining with a completely naughty smile that inspired visions of things that were sinful. She wore a completely tight black dress that her cleavage was almost spilling out of and Harry could see that she wasn't wearing a bra, but then again, with her breasts, she had to get something like that costume made. That being said, her black dress came down just a bit above her knees and she wore thigh high black boots and fingerless black gloves. The red necklace that hung between her cleavage was the only thing in her outfit that wasn't black.

"Hi, Karen," Harry said and she stepped forward, her warm body nearly pressed up against his.

Harry prided himself on the best self-control possible, although the thought of fucking her right here and now in front of the café, even if people were watching, that was something that turned him on right now.

"Who are you talking to?" Karen asked, placing her hand on his chest with a smile.

"Helena," Harry told her, managing to get his wits about himself, not the easiest task in the world when she was standing there, wearing that particular dress. He could feel the blood rushing from his head.

"Tell her I said hi, and she should join us some time, we should get together, just the three of us," Karen practically purred, and her tongue trailed against her lips in a very suggestive manner. Helena had a nice body, her breasts were not as large as hers was granted, but that shouldn't be something that she should hold against someone. That being said, she had a nice ass and Karen wanted a chance to worship it and perhaps dominate it.

"So, I'm guessing that I should call you back later," Helena said, trying to be casual.

"Yes….."

"Why don't you show up in person, that will be a lot more fun?" Karen whispered and Harry looked at her with a smile on his face.

He envisioned bending her over her car and spanking the daylights out of her for interrupting his conversation like that.

'_The naughty girl, she'd like it though,' _Harry said and he could find Karen's arms wrap around him once again, her warm body pressing against his, her crotch up against his, the barrier of clothing was the only thing that separated them.

"So….what's gotten into you?" Harry asked, managing to return somewhat to sense, although there was a large part of him, a very large part of him, that was screaming why.

Karen writhed over his body, not caring who was watching and she shifted behind him, her breasts pressing against his back. "You, hopefully, if you want it, and I know that you want it."

Karen's hands started on his stomach, and she ran further down. The blonde smiled, when he rested against her chest, she was enjoying winding him up.

The main event, it was going to be really awesome, and she rested her hands against his crotch, her hot lips against his mouth, sucking on his neck.

"You know, I think that we should skip lunch….and go straight onto dessert…..mmm I'm in the mood for something creamy, aren't you?" Karen breathed seductively, slowly easing her hand into his pants and Harry looked through his green eyes at her.

He could see the lust burning through her eyes, the fire was rather strong and one ignited in him as well, not to mention the swelling that, her fingers were scant centimeters away from.

He could feel energy pulse off that pendant on that necklace that was hanging between her breasts.

"Where did you get the necklace?" Harry asked her, her hand was about ready to ease his tensions, and her crotch grinded against his ass.

"Oh, this thing…..a fan gave it to me, I didn't want to take it at first, but…..I guess that she talked me into it, the poor girl seemed to be a fangirl, she looked like she wanted to jump my bones, maybe we should track her down, give her some real fun, break her of her shyness."

Karen's hand was really close to tightening its grip around him but right now it hung loosely and teasingly.

The blonde would have loved to go all of the way but she heard the telltale signs of the alarm. She tried to fight her impulses, just to ignore it but her conscience got in the way of her hormones.

"Ugh, is every single fucking criminal in this town a mother fucking cock block?" Karen asked, shaking her head.

The blonde managed to shake off the cobwebs and she moved in front of Harry, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her breasts tightly against him. She grinded against his body, which he returned and they exchanged a kiss.

'_No, no, bad Kara, not now,' _the small part of her brain that had not been fog bound by lust stated and she shook off the cobwebs. The blonde took a step backwards, she could feel a certain warmness that went between her thighs, and she breathed in and out.

She was trying to…..well to be honest, she was trying to focus but she found it extraordinary hard to focus with the promise of what Harry could do with her, and the bulge that was in his pants, something like that should be able to roam free and be worshipped.

Harry was intrigued, that necklace was giving off energies, that affected him even, causing his hormones to explode in interesting directions. He really wondered what was going on but he suspected that he would find out really soon.

Things got curious and curiouser the more that they progressed.

* * *

A couple of thieves looked really pleased with themselves, having knocked off the jewelry store. They managed to steal some high tech weapons from an abandoned warehouse, they were just lying around to be honest, hence the term abandoned warehouse, so they managed to obtain them with the very legal, "finders keepers, loser's, weepers" clause that any smart criminal would take full and complete advantage of.

That being the case, the two criminals were feeling pretty good for themselves, feeling extremely cocky even and they were behind the wheel of a car. Said car began to peal rubber as fast as it could down the street.

"Man look at the score we got."

"Yeah, we can be kings of the city, no one can stop us."

Smash, because someone stopped them and that someone was Supergirl. She ripped off the hood of the car, fury dancing through her eyes, and punched her way through the windshield. The glass did not harm her knuckles like they would a normal person if they punched through it.

The blonde grabbed the thug by the scruff of his shirt and yanked him through the jagged glass.

"What….what….."

"It was you, you knocked it off, didn't you?" Supergirl asked, and she didn't wait for the answer, rather she hurled him across the street.

He bounced off of the street, his face smacking against the pavement, splitting his lip wide open and knocking more than a few teeth out. The criminal skidded to a stop, moaning and groaning in agony.

The other thug tried to take Supergirl out with the laser blaster but the lasers bounced off of her, and she nailed him with a rocket busting punch, putting him flat on his ass and most importantly down for the count. The blood of the criminal stuck to her hand.

"Did you really think that you would get away with something like that?" Supergirl asked, pretty much foaming at the mouth.

"Get….get away from me, you're crazy, help police, arrest me, please, there's a mad woman after me!" the thug yelled, pretty much wetting himself and he looked up, seeing her eyes focused on him and the focus was extremely dangerous.

"You think that you can put innocent people in charge, in my city, with your petty crimes, you better think twice, I'm so sick and tired of chasing down some criminal, who fucking feels the need to steal because he's too lazy to get a real fucking job."

Karen's heat vision formed an outline around the criminal and fire began to burn around him. The blonde looked rather terrifying to the powerless man who whimpered like a little girl.

"Please, look, I'll…..I won't ever steal again, I'll be a janitor, a garbage man, I'll even sell shoes to fat women just please don't hurt me, don't hurt me."

"You're kind of sad and pathetic, so hurting you, I wouldn't really get any pleasure out of doing it at all, you know," she told him and she hung her head and shook at it. This was the kind of person that she would not really get any pleasure in taking down. "But…..if I don't set an example now, people like you…..you'll continue to cause trouble over and over….."

She took the bag out and looked over it.

"Over only a couple of hundred dollars of merchandise," her eyes continuing to flash with red, she said and the man shook his head. "That wasn't worth burning, was it?"

"No, just lock me up, no tv, no computer, no women, no nothing, spank me even," the man whispered but then he realized what he might have implied. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that, argh….."

She picked him up by his head with one hand and he whimpered. He was getting a bit of a headache.

'_It would be so easy to take out someone like this, just crush his skull, just like that,' _Karen thought and there was a hand that was on her shoulder.

She spun around, nearly taking off the head of the person but she stopped, when she realized that it was Harry.

"Kara, that's enough for today, the MCU are on their way, you've made your point, I think."

Karen's chest heaved in and out of her, with Harry's hand on her shoulder. It caused her….well it caused her to calm down just a little bit. At least to the point where the only thoughts in her mind were not rage, murder, and bloodshed and Harry being there replaced them with something else.

"Yes, I know," the blonde said, and she allowed Harry to steer her away from the scene of the carnage. "I think…..I think we should head back to my apartment….before things get intense."

One moment of clarity in a scene of insanity, that was what visited the blonde. Plus burning rubble didn't seem to really get her in the mood, and the blood and teeth of the thugs that she just trashed, equally not as much.

* * *

"Kara, I'm not going to lie, you've been acting rather strangely today."

"Perhaps I'm running a fever, you should give me a complete and through check up," Karen said, as the two of them landed on the balcony of the Kryptonian's apartment. She could stay at the Swann estate but it was far easier just to rent an apartment if she was driving back and forth between classes.

Harry sighed, even though the thought had to be tantalizing. Oh why did he have to be the level headed one in all of this mess?

"Karen, I was being serious."

"I know, I was as well," she responded, running her hand up and down his chest, smiling and she looked at him.

"It's the necklace, isn't it?' Harry asked her and Karen's mouth hung open but then she managed to beat out her lustful hormonal thoughts to think about this…..well mostly logically but not completely. That being said, the thump, thump, thump of her heart against her chest was evident.

"The necklace, yes, of course, it would have to be that," she managed; her primal urge to jump Harry's bones and have him fuck her until they both blacked out was rather high. That being said, she shook her head.

The blonde saw the glow off of the pendant and she shook her head.

"It's red though not green…"

"Maybe different colors affect you….differently," Harry managed and they were inside the apartment, Karen backing him up against the wall, quite literally. Her breasts had him trapped, not that he was going to go out of his way to correct this position.

"Yes, maybe," she breathed in his ear, her hot breath hitting it. "So green hurts me…..and red….it causes me to lose all control of my inhibitions."

Her nipples poked so hard that they hurt against the outside of her costume and Harry's eyes looked towards her. Her lips were so succulent and he took them into another kiss, the green eyed wizard pushing his tongue deep into her mouth, with the two of them wrestling for domination with each other.

The kiss was so intense, that it left both of them primed and ready for much more. Their hands hungrily roamed their clothed bodies but they had to stop to continue, hopefully conclude, their discussion.

"So, I guess that I better take off the necklace then," Karen managed, and she looked around. "Don't suppose that the same lead shielding would work from it, do you?"

"I don't know, the cure was only from the green Kryptonite, we should…..here let me," Harry managed, his hands brushing against her breasts which caused Karen's eyes to close and a lustful moan to escape her lips when he touched her.

He barely touched her breasts but it got her all hot and horny.

"There should be a lead lined box….in the closet somewhere…..you never know when you were going to run into the green stuff," Karen managed and she got a good look at Harry's ass in those tight leather pants.

'_Yummy,' _she thought, staring shamelessly at his ass.

"Can you behave yourself?" Harry asked, without turning around.

"Well, if I don't behave myself, I guess you're going to have to bend me over and spank me," Karen replied saucily.

"Don't push your luck."

Harry found the lead lined box and put the necklace into it. They could study it later.

"Now, are we done yet?"

"Wait, I took it away, and you still feel horny, don't you?" Harry asked and Karen's eyes shamelessly averted downwards, staring at his package, straining against those tight leather pants.

"Please, like you have room to talk, and it looks like you don't have much room," Karen said, with a smile, and she placed her hand on his crotch to examine him closely. Then again, she preferred the more hands on approach to studying things.

"Well, I think we're going to have to sweat this one out," Harry said and Karen smiled, if any criminals decided to pull something now, she would fry them. Literally, there would be a criminal barbeque out in the middle of Metropolis.

Lips met lips and this time they were not going to end their passions until they were both finished and given how wound up both of them were, that would be an extremely long time before that.

* * *

"The worst thing about that is the mess that I'm going to have to clean up afterwards."

Karen's apartment was completely and utterly trashed, you would think that a riot went through it. Most of the furniture was pretty much destroyed from what happened. The blonde had the mattress that was from once her bed sprawled out on the floor, even though she was more sprawled on Harry than anything else.

"Don't tell me you regret it," Harry whispered to her and Karen smiled.

"Not on your life, not on your life, not at fucking all," Karen told him, placing her hand onto his chest and a deep smile increasing over her face. "Most fun that I had in a really long time and I mean that, from the bottom of my heart….period."

"I'm glad that you do," Harry whispered to her and Karen leaned over, her hips straddling him, with a wicked grin on her face.

"Yes, I do," Karen said, running her hands over his chest, his chiseled physique was drool inducing. They did what two gorgeous people in their positions would do, indulge themselves in each other.

"You do realize that we're way late for class, don't you?"

Karen had a wicked and naughty look on her face. "You know what, fuck class. We're the two smartest students to come out of Met-U in some time. If we can't fucking skip a couple of classes every now and again, that's pretty sad, isn't it?"

Harry found it argue to argue with that position, especially when she was in that position. She dipped down lower, her naked breasts pressing against his chest, and she leaned down, with a deep and passionate kiss, her tongue working into his mouth. He returned the favor hungrily with the two of them.

"In fact, we should do something fun…"

"You mean that wasn't fun," Harry told her and Karen had a naughty look on her face, moving over to find a set of clothes. She was pretty sure that she had a costume somewhere in the carnage here but she wasn't sure.

"Oh trashing my apartment with wild passionate animal sex, trust me, that's very fun," Karen breathed sensually in his voice, and she finally found her costume.

She kind of needed to get a new costume because she had a growth spurt since she had it. That being said, she liked the reaction that it got out of her boyfriend, hence why she wasn't changing it just yet. The blonde thought about having a new one for public and another one for private showings.

Plus the thought of Harry fucking in brains out in that costume seemed rather hot and she could feel the pleasure build between her thighs the more that she thought about it.

"So, are you ready?" Karen asked with a smile and she managed to find the change of clothes in Harry's bag and toss it to him.

"What do you have in mind?" Harry asked her, he was equal parts excited but there was also the fact that he wondered if he was biting off a little more than he can chew with her. That being said, the blonde watched him get dressed, with great regret.

The high from the Red K was down from her, at least mostly. That being said, there was just the door for her hormones that she already had that already had been unlocked and super powered hormones were an adventure enough.

"Let's go to Vegas," Karen suggested with a smile on her face.

"Vegas?"

"Yes, you know, Sin City, we can have some real fun, and it isn't that far of a flight there, given that I can go around the world in minutes," Karen said and she scooped up Harry, pressing the back of his head against her beasts, with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Well you won't have to ask me twice," Harry told her, and Karen smiled, she could clean up this mess later, come to think of it, she really didn't like that furniture anyway. "Karen, you do realize something?"

"What?"

"The fact that I can fly on my own…."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Karen replied with a smile but then she paused. "Exactly how…"

"Another story, will tell you later, interesting what Phoenix Tears and Basilisk Venom can do though," Harry told her, the blonde holding him halfway up in the air. "But anyway, there was really no need for you to fly me….you know I can do it on my own."

"I know…..you know I believe we already established that point that I knew, didn't we?" Karen asked and Harry looked over his shoulder towards her, with a lengthy sigh escaping his lips. "But, are you going to turn down resting your head on my breasts all the way to Vegas?"

Harry decided that was not something that he was going to contest and her arms wrapped firmly around him. He decided to enjoy resting his head on her amazing globes.

* * *

Lex Luthor found himself rather disappointed, he expected a bit more from this quite frankly. Supergirl was given the Red Kryptonite by his subordinate and the lab tests have caused the scientists that were exposed it to be sedated and put in a private facility. Given that they were either attempting to strangle everything in their path or go at it with anything like rabbits, depending on their perspective of the person, Lex was hoping for a lot more.

A couple of thugs got broken teeth, busted lips, and were traumatized for life. That was really something that Lex didn't expect. She should be taking down criminals more violently than that, and any citizens who wanted to take her, well she would take them down in a different way.

What went wrong?

The necklace was supposed to be a fool proof plan and Lex didn't like to be proven to be a fool. That being said, he wanted to find out what went wrong.

He did have satellites that could monitor the activity, so he should be able to in theory track her down. The man was going to see what he could do to find the fundamental flaw in his plan.

He could see the an image of the blonde, going from Metropolis and Lex followed her progress.

Well this would be interesting, potentially, as she was on her way to Las Vegas. The type of debauchery that she could get into there, it fit into Lex's plans rather well.

Lex was waiting to see what happened but the blonde had found somewhere and they were heading off to Vegas. He supposed that what happened next seemed to be inevitable.

The plan didn't fail but it did not succeed either. Quite the paradox to be sure.

**To Be Continued on August 12th 2014. **


	8. Royal Flush in Vegas

Batwoman was on the hunt and that hunt lead her to Vegas. Some time ago, the legendary Royal Flush Gang decided to pay a trip to Wayne Manor and try and steal the art in the place during a benefit for charity. Their plans were soundly foiled. Nothing was stolen, given that they were stalled by Batwoman, along with Supergirl and Arcane.

The Royal Flush Gang had been around in many forms over the years, this was the latest incarnation of them. She believed that this was the third version of them, it may have been the fourth version, it was hard to tell, and there were times where such records got muddled.

Something accidentally dropped by one of their members clued Helena in that something was amiss.

Vegas was a happening place at any time and this was no exception to be honest. The woman had many trips here, business for the most part, but she'd be lying if she didn't enjoy the scenes.

Helena stood outside of the art show, given the extravagant tastes of the Queen of the Royal Flush Gang, if they were in town, then this would be a prime target for this dastardly gang. All the Batwoman had to do was watch and wait and something would happen.

The crackling of a police radio jerked her back around to life and sure enough there was an announcement that proved that her theory was right.

"Calling all cars, a gang dressed up as playing cars just ransacked one of the casinos on the strip, stripping all of the patrons of all of their money."

Helena once again listened in, the signal was dodgier for some reason but she got the general gist of where she needed to go.

Even if the Royal Flush Gang had left already, perhaps she had been mistaken about their motives, what brought them to Vegas. Her grapnel launched her across the street and propelled her across the city that didn't sleep.

Batwoman knew not to be seen, especially in broad daylight. And with the cloaking device on her suit, she most certainly wouldn't be seen, so things were looking up for her.

It was the sort of thing that her father wouldn't have approved of, because he tended to want to do things the old fashion way. That being said, her father wasn't here and she was. The woman landed on her feet with a solid thump, and looked over her shoulder. Her heart raced when she could see the police mulling around to investigate.

Any clue that she could find, that would be good. The energy signature around the doors indicated that the King had got a brand new toy after Supergirl busted his overly large staff during their last encounter.

Helena could not help but smile at the memory. Someone pompous like that deserved to be taken down a peg or ten. Never the less she needed to stay focused on the mission.

'_The Royal Flush Gang…..rumors are that whoever is under the mask are rich, so why would they be committing crimes like this, when they don't need the money,' _Helena thought and the answer struck her suddenly. It was so obvious that she could have smacked herself for not coming up with it sooner. _'It's for the thrill of course, you should know that.'_

Most criminals did things for the thrill; it was how they got their sick kicks. Helena passed behind a row of overturned slot machines, with a few coins spilled out on the ground.

"So, did you hear about the playing card gang?"

"Yeah, they didn't clean us out as much as the two who were here earlier, I mean, you know these machines….."

"Yeah, what about these machines?" a guard asked and the second guard gave his counterpart a smile.

"Not really supposed to give the people too much love, well an initial windfall really, but most people who use them, they don't stop while they're ahead, therefore they sit there and keep using them," the guard said and his counterpart nodded, he knew the game. It was Vegas, and they were in it to make sure that people left their savings here, not leave Vegas with a new windfall of savings. "We make back all that they get in the first pull with some added interest."

"Nice con they've got going here."

"Yeah, but that guy who was in here, I swear…..you'd think that he was some kind of magician or something, he kept winning, and the girl that he was in with, she kept winning as well," the guard said and he gave a smirk. "The boss, he was kind of pissed but what were you going to do? Mr. Fortune told them that they better go somewhere else and then these playing cards come in and rob the place. It hasn't been a good day, has it?"

"No, hope it doesn't get taken out of our paychecks, you know."

"Man, how much more can be taken out of our paychecks when we're making peanuts to begin with?"

Helena waited for the two guards to disappear and the daughter of the World's Greatest Detective swooped in, making her move. She scanned and sure enough, the King's new weapon was able to create a trail that would be mostly easily to follow, at least that's what she assumed. Actually there was no reason to assume, because she knew right away what she was after.

She figured that after their last battle, the Royal Flush Gang took some time to upgrade themselves, so any strategy that worked in the past might be obsolete now.

That being said, she would just have to improvise on her feet and she decided to enjoy a challenge. It was time to track them down and bring them to justice, they had run from the law for way too long.

* * *

"You know, if they didn't want us to win that way, then they should have done a better job in rigging their slot machines."

Karen laughed at that statement from Harry, because it was accurate. The two of them flying side by side in Vegas, their hands interlocked with each other. This was an amazing trip although a fair bit of their Red Kryptonite high had come down when their adrenaline from earlier wore off.

That being said, they came to one conclusion. Karen turned towards Harry, with a smile on her face and looked him over, her eyes flickering with naughty intentions. Not that Harry lacked naughty intentions of his own. "You know, that wasn't all because of the RedK."

"Oh, I'm well aware, something like that would have to be in us all of the time," Harry said and Karen smiled, turning towards him. Inhibitions were just a barrier, one that was shredded by the allure of the red Kryptonite.

The two were floating up right in mid air, with Karen now up against Harry. Their eyes locked onto each other and Karen's gaze burned towards Harry. The blonde slowly trailed her tongue around her lips, teasing him a little bit.

"You know, I'd like you in me all of the time, or at least once a day," Karen said and she smiled at him. It was obvious that her lust had not been sated.

If she could help it, it would be far more than once a day, and she wanted that to be an every day occurrence.

"You know that I'd have no argument about that," Harry told her with a smirk and Karen smiled back at him, her arms wrapped around him, bringing her boyfriend's muscular chest towards her breasts.

That being said, the blonde could have just fucked him in midair right now but she had a bit more inhibitions then she did earlier. So she barely managed to reign herself in but it was hard, it was very hard. The self control was another super power that one would have and she didn't quite master that one.

"Mmm, I figured that you wouldn't," Karen said, looking over her shoulder. She was really surprised that there was not more trouble, because she figured that Vegas would have something going on. All of those people with wages that were just waiting to be drained from their bank accounts, it was just ripe for the taking.

The blonde turned around, watching the sunset with Harry, her legs crossed in mid air. Harry returned to a position with his legs crossed, both of them having their arms intertwined with each other enjoying the sight.

"You know, this is a moment that I'm sure that both of us can share, when we cement our relationship with each other," Karen told him, her hand locked onto his and the green eyed wizard smiled, staring forward. "And the more the merrier you know."

"I figured that you'd be open minded about something like that…"

"You're only a fraction of your true potential right now but you use that fraction better than a lot of people would use their full powers."

Harry wondered sometimes if he held himself back in certain respects because he wanted a challenge. Because allowing things to happen too easily wasn't something that he was too entirely fond of but sometimes he had no choice.

"Well, I guess one could say that."

"Sure, you're not perfect, but hey….who am I to judge?" Karen asked with a grin and both of them laughed but then Harry grew suddenly somber and serious.

"Magic is a weird thing," Harry whispered and Karen raised her eyebrow before Harry started to elaborate a little bit. "There are people who use it and there are far more people who grow extremely dependent on using it like it's a drug, and if they couldn't use it, well they'd die."

Harry recalled how he had to live without his powers for about six months completely, although they slowly trickled back in. He was resourceful if nothing else, working around the lack of abilities and he only could use his powers sparingly at that. He was exhausted if he overshot his target.

Karen shivered, but that's why she decided to start training in fighting styles that didn't use her powers. She didn't want to be in a life or death situation that meant that if her powers were gone, she would be fucked in every which way except for the good way.

The green eyed wizard smiled, with the two of them turning in mid air in the midst of the sunset, the blonde leaning in towards him, her legs wrapping around his body, her arms wrapping around his neck.

The two of them met with a kiss and as usual, it felt like there was pure electricity going through the two of them. Harry grabbed her supple rear in his hands and she moaned in pleasure, with his hands going underneath her skirt. She returned the favor with her hands traveling down his back, about ready to feel him up and the two of them were about ready to engage in some passionate actions in the middle of Vegas, high above the strip.

But it turned out that was going to have to wait as an alarm went off thus ruining the moment. Karen gritted her teeth, giving a rather obvious growl and Harry appeared to share her misery.

'_Well, I guess that I couldn't stay lucky for too long,' _Karen thought and there was a scream from above, along with a laser light show from high above.

There was a man on a hovering playing card and Karen looked down towards him. When there was one of them, the others could not be far behind.

"These jokers again, really?"

"At least we don't have to look far for them, do we?" Harry asked and Karen nodded, zipping off and she returned with her costume on, with Harry's already in his.

The two of them dropped to the ground and saw the King holding court and holding a group of civilians hostage.

"Now, everyone, there's no need to be alarmed, just hand over your money and jewelry and anything else valuable that you may have on you, and we'll let you go home."

Jack laughed and he added. "It's not like all of you weren't going home empty handed to begin with."

"Which is funny, because that's about all I expect you to go into Vegas as, empty handed, which would do nicely with your empty heads."

All of the members of the Royal Flush gang turned around and saw Arcane standing right before them, a smile on his face.

Supergirl dropped down next to them and the King turned towards them, holding up his large, and new and improved staff, before he blasted a huge wave of energy towards both of the heroes. They dodged the attacks, and caused a slot machine to blow up, with a shower of silver dollars flying through the air.

Some of the men dove to the ground to try and get the silver dollars, not caring that King was shooting high level energy from his big honking staff.

"Is it just me or is he still compensating for something?" Supergirl asked, and the energy cut through the air, nearly blasting them extremely hard.

"Yeah, I think he just might be, a little bit," Harry replied, once again dodging nearly getting his head taken off, again and again. The King's weapon was powerful but his aim sucked big time.

"You know what, I just might have to take that toy away from him."

Supergirl clapped her hands and caused all of the members of the Royal Flush gang to fly head over heels, slamming onto the ground.

"Perhaps we should give this up as a bad job," Ten said, trying to remain focused on the task at hand but Arcane was distracting her, something that she found herself growing increasingly annoyed at. She was normally so much better at staying focused and keeping her mind on her work.

"Come, show these peasants what royalty is made of, they aren't going to humiliate us again like they did the last time," The King said, holding up his staff but Supergirl sent her heat vision at the staff, incinerating it in his hand.

He gave an anguished scream of horror with the cinders of the staff following to the ground.

"Not again…"

Jack jumped into the air, swinging a roundhouse kick at Arcane, who took a half of a step to the side, and the green eyed wizard watched his enemy crash and burn onto the ground in a tangled heap of limbs.

"Well that was entertaining," Harry said dryly and the King loaded up a pair of brass knuckles but the Queen grabbed him by the shoulder.

"We better go…."

"Just because your father was the previous King, does not make you my ruler, I have a score to settle with these two," The King said, charging forward to them, but a baterang popped him in the face, knocking him onto his rear.

Batwoman was in the house and the rest of the Royal Flush Gang were even more nervous about their chances.

"Get her!" The King yelled to his family and his two children, along with his wife, and along with their servant looked at him like he was crazy.

There was no like about it, the King was blooming mad, he was.

* * *

Earlier that night, Batwoman was on her way from the Casino, tracking the trail. There was a really big business convention in town, where a lot of business owners wanted to try and sell new products for those people who had top dollar in town. She kept moving towards it, and that's where the trail was picked up. Not only the King's energy trail got stronger but there was some big wig art dealers that would be unveiling some masterpieces.

So it wasn't hard to put two and two together and get what she wanted, and to be lead in the right direction. The party might have always started without her, and the sounds of combat from inside pointed her in that direction.

The Wayne heiress could hear the signs of battle inside the complex, never a good sign. That being said, she could also hear voices and two familiar ones.

She deduced that the battle from Wayne Manor would be picked back up and would reach its mostly logical conclusion. That being said, she swooped in, seeing the King gear up with a pair of brass knuckles, ready to lay the smack down on someone.

She smiled and hurled a baterang, knocking him in the face and the King staggered back, looking around before his eyes focused on Batwoman who appeared before their very eyes.

He pointed one of his large fingers towards her and yelled "GET HER!"

That got the desired reaction from his family, all of them who looked rather angry at the fact that they had been dragged into it. That being said, the lumbering and large Ace was sent in as a sacrificial lamb to fight Batwoman.

Batwoman dodged the attack, and she could see Supergirl rush in, super punching Ace through the wall. The large member of the gang flew hard and they were reminded once anew he was a robot. And he took a huge hit being disabled and out of this fight just like that.

"What did you hope to accomplish with this, we need to leave before they get us!" The Queen yelled and the King raised his hands, and shook his head. "Listen to me you stubborn old….."

"I am the king of this castle…"

The Queen scoffed at his rather pompous declaration and fired back with the obvious retort.

"Please, the only throne you're fit to occupy is the one in our bathroom."

The King pretended not to hear this rather cutting remark from his wife, instead he rushed forward, zipping towards his adversary, but Batwoman crouched down. The female crime fighter ducked the punch, crouching down to avoid his punch, and then a second punch.

It was time to end this, and the King's arm twisted behind his back, before she flipped him onto his back with a well-placed judo throw.

"Hang on, dad," Jack managed but Batwoman nailed him with an off handed back hand punch, sending him flying straight into the wall with a thunderous crash.

Ten made her way to the back door but she backed into Arcane. The female member of the gang turned around, looking at him, and took half of a step back. She was intimidated and not in a good way.

"So, going my way?"

She knew that this was going to suck so she raised her hands into the air.

"Okay, looks like you got me…"

The King rushed forward once more but Arcane blocked his attack with brass knuckles of his own on his costume. The two knuckles clashed together, sending sparks through the air, with Arcane channeling enough power through them to cause King a slight shock.

Ten slid away but Batwoman shot a rope from her gun which wrapped around Ten, ensuring that she was tied up without a place to go.

"She looks good in ropes, doesn't she?" Supergirl asked with a smile on her face, and once again, Jack tried to jump up to attack her.

Jack still became O-Infinity by getting knocked down again by a casual back hand punch from Supergirl.

The Queen sighed, she rummaged through her purse for something but Supergirl flew past her, yanking it away.

"I'm sure you were looking to blow us up, but we're not going to really have any of that."

"Believe me sweetie, I have something for just the occasion right here," she said, pulling a hair pin out of her hair and flinging it like a projectile towards the blonde heroine.

The explosion blew a hole through the ground and caused choking smoke to fill the air.. Batwoman was injured, Supergirl was more annoyed.

King lifted into the air and went flying into the restrooms, crashing through the stall, the battle with Arcane ceasing. And he came up on the short end of the stick.

"There, a throne fit for a king," Arcane commented, as the King struggled to free himself from the toilet which he flew in head first.

Needless to say that might have not been the flush that the King was looking for when he went to Vegas.

Supergirl shuddered, she would feel kind of sorry for anyone who got sent head first into a public restroom toilet.

The Queen looked around, taking off her wedding ring.

"Most use this thing ever got me," she said and she flung the ring through the air, and it started to spin like a top, shooting laser arrays at them both.

Harry caught the ring in an energy bubble that emitted from his suit and disabled it rather handily.

"Should have known that anything that he bought would have been useless….."

Arcane bound the Queen, and caused her to go to fall to the ground. She struggled with all that she could through the ropes, but she found that there was no way out.

"I don't understand, there's never been anyone who had been able to stop us before."

"Well, I guess that your luck ran out," Supergirl said, smugly placing her hands on her hips and Arcane moved around, to see that the entire gang was held.

When they verified they were, the police could in fact take it from here. The King got the worst of it, which was perfect in many ways.

"I guess the family who plays together, does time together," Supergirl said and Arcane exited next, followed by Batwoman, who was moving a bit gingerly, she had hurt her knee in the fight, and she had been scratched up as well.

"So, not up for a quick escape now when we're not looking," Arcane said and Batwoman looked at him with one of those penetrating glares that her father patented so well during his time as the god damn Batman.

"I'll live, I've had worse," Batwoman said and she held herself against the wall, managing to stand just barely.

Supergirl smiled, holding her up with her body. Batwoman grudgingly let her do so.

"You might have had worse, but I think that your perception might have been skewed, if you think that you've had worse….."

"You two have figured out who I am, didn't you?" Batwoman asked and Harry smiled, despite himself.

"Didn't you?"

"Yes," she replied, she could not help but think that her father would be giving her a lecture about being so sloppy from behind the grave if he was here.

"So, are you ready to go in for some medical attention?"

"Yes," she replied, deciding to lean on both of them, with a lengthy sigh once again.

* * *

Helena Wayne had nothing to be ashamed about but she had to admit that being in the presence of Harry Potter, wearing nothing but a black bra and a pair of panties, it was something that caused her to be a tiny bit self-conscious.

The stoic look that was on her face would tell you that nothing was wrong, but as his hands moved over her body, gently brushing over certain areas, there was a fire that ignited in her that she felt for no other man. Some women one could make an argument, but they were just ways to relieve some obvious tension.

This was something else entirely, his hands roamed completely over her body and she breathed in and she breathed out.

"Are we okay?"

Helena was trying to keep back the cutting comment that she had in response to that question but it was very hard to do so.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, feeling his hands roam over her body just a little bit more.

Harry smiled, he could tell that he was getting to her just a little bit, just a little bit at the very least. The RedK effects had lingered on a little bit, his magic added to the exotic rock's pull and expanded it even.

That being said, her body was something that he had admired from there. Her silky black hair stretched down, framing a face with high and soft cheek bones, along with an alluring set of blue eyes, a different shade then Karen's. Her full firm breasts were contained in a nice black bra. She had the best breasts that a human could hope for, and she was fit, with a flat stomach with muscle tone and long lovely legs that were the right mix of muscular but sensual.

Her ass was obviously the best feature on her but then again, from what Harry could find out, she inherited most of her assets from her infamous mother. That was neither here nor there, as he took the ice and put it down on the bruised knee.

"Tell me how you feel about that?" Harry asked her and her eyes closed shut, a pleasurable moan escaping from her lips.

"Much….much better," she admitted, trying to return to some sense of being focused. Harry made it difficult. She both hated and loved him for that but never the less, she was on the mend.

Helena hoped that he did not see the moisture that formed on her panties. It was a good thing that she had a couple of spare changes of clothes, because there was every hint that this investigation could have gone on for a couple of days.

Thankfully it didn't, and she could feel the soreness in her knee going away. It was replaced by a burning desire that was bubbling elsewhere.

"Walk it off and see if you feel any pain."

Helena got to her feet, expecting to hurt when she put weight on her leg but she felt nothing but the normal feeling that someone would feel whilst walking. She thought that he truly had magic hands but to say so, she thought that it would sound kind of corny, so she kept her tongue grabbed.

She took a few more steps to test out what she was feeling, and the woman looked around, with Harry sitting on the bed, casual as if there was not an extremely attractive and young female walking around the house in her bra and panties.

'_The type that's cool under pressure,' _Harry thought once again, crossing his arms once again.

"So, how does it feel?"

"Feels good actually…mind if I use your bathroom to take a shower?"

"Karen's in there….she should be finishing up, in fact there she comes right now."

Karen made her way from the bathroom and Helena was stopped in her tracks. She could see the blonde woman step forward, dripping wet, wearing nothing but an extremely tight white towel around her breasts, barely stretching down to cover what needed to be covered. Helena drank in every inch of her skin, liking what she saw and wanting to see more, so much more in fact. Her heart kept racing when she stared the beautiful blonde down.

"So did you manage to save some hot water for me?"

"I think you seem more like a cold shower person to me," Karen said with a suggestive wink and a smile and Helena's heart thumped across her chest once more, she could feel…..well she could feel a lot of things. It was obvious what Karen was suggesting but she wasn't done suggesting it. "You know, if you wanted a shower, I wouldn't have said no to you joining me, there's plenty of room in there for at least three people."

"You know, there just might as well have been," Harry said and Helena thought that she could handle one or the other but not both at the same time.

Her strong will power managed to push on through, just barely declining that tantalizing offer.

"Not….now," Helena said, managing to keep her composure which was getting harder. She wondered if there was some trait about their powers that was devolving her into a hormonal wreck. That being said, she shook her head to clear the cobwebs.

"Well, that would be interesting, but take your shower, we'll be here for you, when you get back," Karen said, popping her lips with a slightly suggestive kiss and Harry smiled.

Helena made her way into the bathroom and Harry turned towards her, with the blonde parking herself down on his lap, still dressed in only the towel.

"What?" Karen asked him and Harry corked his eyebrow at her, when she shifted teasingly against his lap.

"You know what…"

"She does have a nice ass," Karen said, looking right at the door when she said that and Harry tightened his embrace to her. "You know that I'm right."

Harry smiled, combing her hair, which was all entangled.

"You're not watching her in the shower with your X-Ray vision, are you?" Harry asked, shifting Karen slightly, so she was straddling his lap facing him and looking into his eyes.

"Maybe…and I think that….."

Karen was distracted by something else, namely Harry's lips on hers. She was pretty sure that the pheromones that they were shooting off only increased as opposed to decreased when they were engaging in some kind of intimate activity. That being said, Harry's hands roamed over her body.

"So….now what?"

"Play your cards right, and we'll see…"

Helena exited the bathroom, dressed in a black t-shirt and a tight pair of black leather pants. She stepped forward, still seeing that Karen was dressed in only a towel.

"I think that we should hit the town tonight," Helena suggested abruptly and Karen smiled.

"That's a great idea, we'd make quite the threesome."

Helena raised her eyebrow at the innuendo but Karen darted in and out. She was dressed in an extremely tight black top, a black skirt that only barely maintained modesty, and a pair of black boots.

"I'm ready," Karen said, and Harry was already dressed and ready to go.

The night was young, so were they, and it was Vegas.

* * *

Lex Luthor did not practice patience all that well, when you were a man of his stature, time was something that you could not and should not afford to waste. He tapped his fingers, drumming them on the table, and he checked his watch, waiting for someone to call him back.

'_Five minutes late, it's not like he has anything better to do, all the time he has on his hands, he sits in his office making paper airplanes half of the day.'_

Lex got reports back from Vegas that there were a pair that was causing havoc, and he suspected that it was Supergirl and her friend, at least that's what his assumption was going to be right now. The man made preparations for what could happen because he assumed that the Red Kryptonite would cause more damage than that but you know what people said about assumptions.

There was a buzzer that came off and Lex lifted his hand, tapping it. His voice was crisp, curt, and to the point. "Yes."

"Mr. Luthor sir it's….Powers, he's here."

"Took him long enough," Lex said, not even bothering to disguise the contempt in his voice. He cleared his throat. "Well what are you waiting for, send him in?"

The doors opened and a very haggard looking Derek Powers made his way in, and already he put Luthor in a bad mood because of the drivel that spilled from his mouth.

"After all I've done for you, I think that I deserve a job at LuthorCorp…."

"All that you've done….for me?" Lex asked and he looked amused at his brazen attitude. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear, if it wasn't for me, you would be Gotham City trash, trying to slum it in Ghost Town, hoping for a hand out. So don't start talking about what you've done for me, because what you've done for me, is absolutely nothing and you know it about as well as I do."

The face of Derek Powers twisted into an ugly scowl and he was about ready to attack Lex but he thought better of it, at least for a second. That being said, it was a stand off between the two of them.

"You're making a big mistake, I know about…"

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear, my reputation could suffer for the short term but yours would be damaged for the long term," Lex said, staring in his eyes.

"You're not your father…"

"Yes, I'm not," Lex agreed, pride in his voice to the fact that Derek Powers made that distinction. "And you're most certainly not yours, that's for sure. Your old man wouldn't have folded when he got sent down the hall."

Luthor and Powers stared down each other, neither willing to back down from the other. That being said, both came to an understanding that they were not going to get very far on that line of conversation.

Business called because of them were businessmen first and foremost.

"So, did you come into my office in some sad attempt to blackmail me or do you have a more practical reason for you to be here?" Lex asked and there were seconds where he paused and a very obvious tone of, "well I'm waiting, to his voice."

"The first round of test subjects have come back."

Powers thought that he got Luthor's attention with that one. He was waiting for these results for a very long time.

"You tested it…"

"It was very easy to call in a couple of favors from Blackgate," Powers told him and Luthor said. "The criminals thought that they were being sent to an island to get put on a work release program. They were put to work, building a new facility off shore that we could put further tests and then…."

"Then you tested it on your own workers…"

"It isn't like they're going to be missed, the administration at Blackgate told me to use them as you see fit and if you dispose of them, they'll take care of the paperwork," Powers commented to him and he held up the palm top computer that he had. "These are the test subjects that are still alive, although perhaps not by the time that I get back."

Luthor looked at them, He would say that they were skin and bone, but rather ash and bone would be a better assessment of the matter. The haunted look in their eyes was the one that he saw in the eyes of many enemies as he took their companies over and assigned them to menial jobs.

"That's just the more tame ones….the remains aren't fit to be removed, they're too radioactive to be safely removed…..I had my men bury them in lead lined boxes underneath the ground….I have DNA samples encased in lead at the facility as well, where they are being studied."

Lex watched, awed by some of the more graphic images. He could sell this to the United States military and all it would take is one canister to wipe out in an entire enemy army. No more mothers would have to wait to hear the dreaded news that their sons had perished in battle, it would make war time casualties to this country obsolete.

"We don't know the long term side effects for it though…."

"Well that's something that you study over time," Lex commented in a calm voice, he knew that this weapon would put millions if not billions of dollars into his pocket. He was excited about what could potentially happen.

"I just wonder if we should have this conversation here," Powers said, nervously looking around.

"I can assure that my office is secure for any conversations, but I have to congratulate you, you've proven yourself not to be useless after all."

Lex once again looked through the pictures, and that was just from the prototype strain of the gas. Slight alterations can be made and perfection could always be improved upon.

Anyone who challenged him would be at his mercy.

**To Be Continued on August 15th 2014. **


	9. Merger

The night that was certainly was something. The first rays of sunlight found themselves poking in through the room and Harry Potter managed to stir himself back to a state of being awake. He wasn't completely coherent yet but the pieces were slowly falling back together.

He took one look at the hotel room and one conclusion dawned upon his mind. This was a room that had in fact seen far better days. He was nearly amused by what happened, very nearly amused but he might be even more amused if he figured out precisely what happened.

Harry wondered how much he had to drink last night but never the less, there was a very high tolerance to what he ingested. And the two females that were lying next to him was proof that something amazing happened.

His sleep deprived mind slowly, very slowly managed to piece things together, as hard as it was to do. A few drinks rattled around some brain cells, and Harry must have had some of the strong stuff because he had a higher tolerance than most. The green eyed wizard could feel the cobwebs shape from his mind. Something managed to happen last night.

Helena was leaning against his back, she pretty much had a death grip on his waist and obviously did not want to let go. Which was funny, because Harry didn't peg her as a heavy sleeper, obviously, for obvious reasons.

Karen was tangled up somewhere in the area of his legs, her head resting near his lap. Again, there was a lot of thoughts that was in Harry's mind when he tried to return himself back to a state of sensibility, where he could…..where he could figure out what happened. So far, there was absolutely nothing.

They had beaten the Royal Flush Gang, that much had been clear.

'_What happened afterwards, I think that it was pretty amazing,' _Harry thought to himself and he could only remember bits and pieces of it. Slowly, with a smile on his face, he lifted his finger up and he could see that there was one addition to it.

There was a wedding ring on his finger and Harry blinked for a second or more. He didn't…..but he should have expected, perhaps, maybe. It was not exactly as cut and dry of a situation was one would think. That being said, the green eyed wizard now recalled more than last night and after a quick check, he could see rings on Helena's and Karen's fingers. Both of them had satisfied smiles on their face and judging by the state of the room, it was obvious that it had been a wild night.

Words might not describe it what happened but it would be fun to make the effort to do so.

Harry figured that it was about time to wake up but it was obvious by now that Helena was not about to relinquish the hold that she had around Harry's waist. The green eyed wizard smiled, she looked extremely comfortable from where she was and Harry hated to have moved her but the problem was that his shoulder was about ready to give out so he had no choice.

"Helena," Harry turned and whispered to her. She shifted against him, not waking up straight away. She was sort of out of it, which was extraordinary given who was involved.

Karen was stirring awake and she managed to lift her head up. The blonde slid down the bed, managing to cover Harry's chest completely with her ample breasts. She leaned towards him and gave him a smoldering kiss to the lips. "Good morning handsome."

"Well it looks like you're up and ready to go," Harry told her and Karen's face contorted into a nice grin.

"Yes, and last night, it was you who was up and ready to go," Karen whispered to him and the smile on her face got bolder and wider, with her fingers traveling down his chest, with a smile. "You worked Helena over something fierce, the poor girl's out of it."

"Yes, and she won't let go…."

Karen giggled at the predicament that her husband found himself in. "Well that's….a bit embarrassing."

Harry raised his eyebrow at her and she was trying extremely hard to keep a straight face, even though it was something that she failed at. His stern look caused her to descend into a full blown fit of laughter.

Helena grumbled, she was being woken up about six days before she was ready or something like that. "Could you keep the volume down, please?"

"Sorry, it's time to get up….it's almost after noon," Karen said, getting up still bare ass naked and making her way towards the window, her ass swaying the more that she walked forward. She placed her hands on either side of the window and looked down, a smirk on her face despite herself.

"Almost, but not quite," Helena said, she was still feeling the ravishes of the night that was and she was a bit sore between her thighs. That being said, it was worth it, more than worth it because it was like a dream come true.

It had been a long time since she had let loose like that, because she could not afford to let her guard down. That being said, around Karen and Harry, she let her guard down a lot and this was the result.

Her hair was also messed up something fierce and she decided to coax herself out of bed, even though she kind of didn't want to. But then again, she really had to, with her knees feeling like concrete when she moved to the edge of the mirror, peering towards it.

The naked dark haired female lifted her hand up and it was now in her delirious state that she noticed that there was a brand new addition to her hand.

It took a seconds for her to reboot her brain, her mouth hanging open, and then she slowly turned to Harry and Karen, recognizing that they had the same additions. She then spoke in a matter of fact voice without breaking her stride or missing a beat. "We got married last night."

"Well she is the World's Greatest Detective," Karen said and Helena gave her sister wife a long glare that would have made Batman proud.

Harry cleared his throat and both of the girls turned towards him to see what he had to say. "Why don't the three of us take a shower together…..clear the cobwebs, and then we can have some breakfast."

"Wouldn't it be more like lunch now?" Karen asked with a cheeky grin and Harry threw his hands back into the air with an exasperated sigh attached to his moments. "I'm just making a p….."

Harry smiled at her, waving his hand. "Breakfast, lunch, might even be dinner by the time that we're done in the shower. Or it might already be breakfast tomorrow for all we know."

Karen smiled at the implications of that statement. "Okay….we take a shower, get dressed, and go downstairs….have some of whatever meal it's time for by the time that we get down there, it sounds like a plan to me."

"That would be the ideal thing to do," Helena agreed, and she stepped forward, with Karen and Harry helping her up. "I'm okay, I just need a moment to recover, you know."

"Are you sure?" Karen asked her and Helena nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure," Helena said, wondering how long it was, because it seemed a lot more than a couple of hours from her perspective, so she wondered what the hell was going on. That being said, she was naked, so she didn't really need to get undressed.

She was not sure if she could right now but the cold water snapped her out of the state that she was in right now, which was good. That being said, she could feel Karen and Harry enter behind her and she felt like she was trapped in a perilous predicament.

* * *

They managed to make it down in time for a late lunch which surprised Harry as much as anyone. That being said, they weren't just in Vegas now for a pleasure trip and Helena smiled leaning back.

"We better get this taken care of now, because just because Powers got kicked down the hall, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have his share of supporters in Wayne," Helena said and she looked tense. Harry's arm wrapped around her shoulders and she couldn't help but smile. It relaxed her, she would be lying if she said that it didn't. "I've been slowly undercutting their power but that's a process that takes a lot of time."

"You can't just fire them…"

"No, sadly, Powers made sure to get his people some cushy jobs that would make it difficult for anyone to get them out of their contracts unless they quit," Helena said and there was a fair bit of agitation attached to her voice as she spoke. She could afford some pretty good lawyers but unfortunately Powers could. It would tie up too much money and resources for a legal battle. "I'll be honest, he did a pretty good job there, most people wouldn't have but he did."

That being said, there was more than one method to deal with some unwanted pests.

"SLO managed to avoid a lot of that corporate BS structure I see," Harry said and Helena gave him a sharp smile.

"Well, to be fair, many people would be too terrified of you…"

"So, you would consider me to be terrifying?" Harry asked and Helena waved off that statement.

"Not me personally but…there are just a lot of people who know that you are ruthless with your business deals, and you're going to get the most out of them," Helena said and she had the deal right in front of her. To be fair, it was a fair deal to her, more than a fair deal in fact but there were a lot of people at Wayne who would pitch a bitch with how much power it would give Harry.

Mostly because they would have pushed for some kind of controlling share of SLO and try and get Harry out of power. Which he was not going to fall for, because he understood how the game worked.

"I do want you to think that you have more than your fair say….even though you and I will be co-owners of Wayne based off of this deal," Harry said and Helena nodded crisply in response.

"I think that this is more than fair, others would have pushed for more but I'm not really that greedy," Helena told him and Harry nodded with a smile on his face.

"Patricia said that this deal was good, and it was the fairest possible to all parties," Karen said, and she looked towards Harry. "Not that we won't make money, but I think that Harry is the one who is going to make the most money."

"It isn't like I'm screwing you…"

"Some people at Wayne will see that though," Helena reminded him, but naturally the person who had the final say did not see it at that way.

"They wanted controlling shares of SLO, don't they?"

"Yes, they did," Helena said, and she knew for a fact that Powers in particular would be salivating at it.

"I'm not about to give up control of the company that I built from the ground up, and…a lot of his projects have contributed to some of the worst performing quarters that Wayne has had in about twenty five years or so, haven't they?"

Helena winced at that fact, one of the reasons why she had such an uphill battle to deal with. "I know, don't remind me."

"And the fact that he's in bed with Luthor….yeah bad image I know," Karen said and both Helena and Harry pulled faces at that statement. She cleared her throat. "You know Luthor isn't about to give up his control."

Harry smiled, he figured that since the three of them were married, he would just leave everything out on the table.

"Well I've been slowly buying up stocks in LuthorCorp."

That got the intended reaction from both of them and Karen's mouth hung open, and there was a moment where she started blinking.

"Are you serious?' Karen asked him and Harry nodded with a smile.

"Keep in mind that it's been slow going," Harry said, and he wanted to do it slowly, not to let Luthor in what's up.

"That makes perfect sense," Helena told him. "The last thing you want to do is let Luthor in on what you're doing."

"It's amusing really, because Lex is really trying to find a way to bring me down, and he's really not able to figure out what's happening underneath his own nose," Harry said and that was kind of amusing to be honest.

That being said, Harry was really not going to rest easily until someone like Luthor was completely out of power. Someone like him, he was untouchable or felt like he was. By slowly removing his power, it would be a lot easier to go in for the kill.

Then again, if one of Luthor's other enemies were pissed off, then it was only a matter of time. He was surely in desperation mode right now and he would incur the wrath of others.

"You do realize how easy it would be to just fly in there and finish him off."

Helena answered Karen's question with a swift statement. "Perhaps it would be, but with his influence, if any of us are caught in the act, it could mean that the hammer could be brought down on us and that would be a huge problem"

It went without saying that all three of them were hunted vigilantes and something like Luthor's sudden death, that would make them worse off than they were already. Harry looked at both of his wives, thoughtfully at that.

"Luthor's time will come soon…..one would think that strong warning that I gave him would have been enough to tell him to knock it off."

Helena blinked, and she recalled what Harry did and she smiled. "Yes one would think that, wouldn't they?"

"Lex is dangerous because of who he is, not what he can do," Harry summarized, taking a bite from his sandwich, thoughtfully looking at both of his wives. "We have to remove his identity…"

"And you went a long way towards doing that when you usurped his role as Metropolis's favorite son,' Karen interjected and Harry smiled, she hit the nail right on top of the head.

"He still has a lot of friends in power, most annoyingly the Mayor," Harry said and Karen groaned, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "And you're not the biggest fan of the Mayor I take it…."

"Don't get me started on him…..he thinks that he's doing good but…he's really causing this city to be flushed down the sewer because of how far in bed he is with Luthor," Karen ranted, and Helena looked at her new sister wife, with a sympathetic smile. Gotham had its fair share of corrupt politicians, which allowed the criminal element to increase and expand "And you would think that if they put at least half of those resources to capturing the criminals that I have to end up hunting down because they're hunting me down….."

Karen nearly smashed the sugar bowl in frustration but Harry's quick reflexes pulled it away so she only hit the table.

"There's no easy situation to this," Harry told her. Well actually the easy situation would be to exterminate Luthor like the cockroach that he is. And if Harry had his full power, that would be a lot easier and he would be able to hide any misdoings better.

The problem other than that was that suspect number one would be his lovely new wife and she was getting hunted down enough by the Mayor and his new task force. He didn't want to make matters worse for her. So his hands were tied, at least until he provoked Luthor into doing something that even he couldn't cover up.

"Back to business," Helena said, and she looked at Karen, with Harry having placed his hand on hers and squeezing it tightly. That caused the blonde to calm down.

Both of them nodded in agreement, even though Harry was the one who said it. "Right, back to business."

"The deal has been structured such that the main pains in the neck shouldn't be able to get involved," Helena said, when she quickly read the documents laid out on the table. Harry told her what they entailed before and while she believed him, it was still best to check things over. "Powers especially, and with you getting brought in as a new part owner, he's power will be even more marginalized."

"And if he's working with Luthor, he'll come right to him in desperation….." Karen said and she stopped. "I wonder if Luthor will throw him under the bus and pretend that they never met."

That was a rhetorical question that they all knew the answer to and Harry smiled once again at them.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all," Helena told them swiftly, tapping her hand on the table over and over again. "That being said, we've got more than a few problems here….."

"Putting it mildly," Harry told her as he looked over the Wayne records that Helena dug for him. There was something that stuck out for him like a sore thumb. "What has he been doing, buying up all of that off shore property?"

"That's what I've been hoping to find out, there's some kind of secret project between him and Luthor and this is more proof, and you don't want to know what I went through to get my hands on this information," she told them and Harry nodded, he had a pretty good hunch that she went through something. "That being said…"

"Some kind of secret project, likely with Luthor," Karen chimed in.

"Actually there's no likely about it, it's definitely with Luthor. Otherwise, why would he try to keep it hidden?"

"There's almost enough incriminating information here," the Wayne heiress said and Karen held her hand up to stop her.

"What do you mean almost enough incrimination information?"

It was here that Helena's expression grew rather grim. It was a good thing that her hair was clipped back. "The wheels of justice in Gotham City…..well let's just say that they move rather slowly, especially someone who has bought enough favor into the GCPD force like Powers."

"There's another problem there, he has the GCPD in his back pocket," Harry said and that was a problem.

"The moment Gordon retired, things held steady for a while, but they backslid into their own pre-Gordon, pre-Batman state," Helena summarized for them, helping herself to a piece of the pie that was set out on the table for dessert. "They're not as bad as they could be, there are a couple of honest cops that aren't on the take, but they're so low down on the totem pole that they might as well not be there. And they wouldn't be the type that are willing to do anything."

She could see her father rolling over in his grave and James Gordon rolling over in his. They rolled over so much that the Earth might as well have shook.

"His daughter was Commissioner for a while, but she disappeared about five years back," Helena said and there was an obvious implication of what disappeared meant in a place like Gotham City. The dark haired woman sighed, that was a shame and a tragedy. "A good person she was but I guess that the good people are the first to die in Gotham City."

"The good people are always the first to be killed any place and the wicked somehow live forever," Harry said and Helena raised an eyebrow, where her husband decided to clarify. "Just a lesson that I learned….back home."

He had not told Helena about his full origins yet and he would have had to take her aside to do so later. Or at least That being said, he had business to deal with.

"So, the sooner we get this partnership of the ground, the healthier the future of Wayne will be," Harry concluded and Helena smiled, taking the pen and getting ready to sign the deal.

They had discussed most of the terms of this agreement previously; it was just a formality that she would have to sign it and make it all legal.

Helena read it over one more time, to make sure everything was in order and she signed on the dotted line. Then Harry followed it up by signing it as well.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Harry told her and Helena offered him a small shadow of a smile.

"Given that this merger is more ways than one, I would have to agree," Helena told him and Karen smiled.

STARR, SLO, and Wayne would be a trinity to be reckoned with and she almost pitied Lex Luthor, the key word being almost.

* * *

Lex Luthor felt like he was on the top of the world today. Sure there were a minor setback or two and Supergirl appeared to have flown under the radar. The businessman felt pretty good because the nerve gas weapon was created and would be about ready to be used against anyone who stood in his way.

The first round of tests was quite nasty as Powers illustrated to him. And now the next round of tests would prove to be the most vital to ensure that the weapon had its maximum potential. Lex refused to let those tests happen out of his sight, so he rounded up certain expandable employees.

If they refused because of the danger, there was deportation or he could send them back to prison, depending on who he was dealing with.

His cast would come off tomorrow and he had been playing the events of that night back over in his mind since the moment that he sat down. His leg had been wrecked something fierce but he could pay for the best doctors in Metropolis and around the world.

"This is Cat Grant here with a special news bulletin, late breaking news regarding a special partnership between The Shining Light Organization, Wayne Industries, and STARR Labs."

It was a good thing that Lex wasn't drinking right now, otherwise he would have spit on the television. That being said, he clutched his hand against the briefcase that he held and leaned in, for a closer look.

"I've flown out live where I'm on location in Las Vegas, where this ground breaking business deal is about to be announced."

Lex tried to remain calm and he looked at the screen with beady little eyes. He reached over to the side, grabbing his phone. With swift precision, he dialed up Derek Powers.

He waited, impatiently, for the phone to ring. There were seconds that passed before Powers got on the phone on the other side.

"Hello?" Powers asked him and Lex spoke to him in a snappish manner.

"Powers, did you know about this?"

"Know about what…..Lex…."

"Well, I don't think that you'd be a very busy man for much longer, so you've got all the time in the world to talk to me," Lex said to Powers over the phone. "Harry Potter is about to give a speech, the partnership between Wayne and SLO is official…"

"Miss Wayne had a minder to tell me of all of her movements….company policy, and….I'll get ahold of him and get back to you," Powers said, wondering how much this was going to screw him over.

"Yes, you do that, you see if your lackey has messed up something fierce," Lex said, hanging up the phone and waiting.

"I'm pleased to announce the new partnership between Wayne Industries and the Shining Light Organization which will bring us to higher heights yet," Helena declared with a smile on her face and Luthor almost figured out that she was smirking at people like him. One day, her arrogance would be her downfall. "Since I have returned, I have taken a look at some of the decisions that Wayne Industries have made and I only want to do what is best for business and more importantly what is best for the people of Gotham City and for the rest of the world."

There was a lot of applause and Lex waited for the call back, getting more agitated by each second that he was left hanging.

'_Damn it Powers, what's taking you so long,' _Lex thought and he could see Helena continue to give her speech. His agitation grew with every second, with that smug bitch looking really pleased with her.

"It's a bold decision that my father and grandfather would have approved of that would help move this company to the next level," Helena commented and Lex grabbed a pen from his desk, mostly to have something to clench his fist around. "Please welcome a man who I have brokered a deal with to give him partial ownership of Wayne Industries, Harry Potter."

Lex's mood shifted from agitated to completely foul. He looked like he wanted to strangle something or maybe someone. Never the less, he took several really calming breaths in his attempt to keep his mood down to a level where he wasn't about ready to pop off and strange someone.

Tempting as that was, tempting as that was, he must not…..he would not…..because he should not. All would be lost if he did something irrational now. His teeth gritted together in fury.

"It's been a while in the making and I'm happy to see that the Wayne family is still an institute in Gotham City, a city that is home for so many people, and a unique city that presents some unique opportunities," Harry said and there was plenty of applause. "Wayne has outsourced a lot of its jobs, but I promise to help bring the company's focus back to Gotham City, and then we can expand out outreach far behind to Metropolis, Central City, Star City, and all other points in between."

Lex could hear the phone ring on the side of the desk, which allowed him to turn away from the speech on the screen.

"Took you long enough," Lex practically growled over the phone. Anyone who had seen him now would have thought that Lex was about ready to pop a blood vessel in his head and they would have been right. And they would pity anyone who incurred his wrath.

"Sorry," Powers replied an apologetic voice but there was a tone that he knew that he was screwed, but he really didn't know how bad he was screwed. "It's…..well it's….."

"Do me a favor and spit it out," Lex said, his tone was nasty and there was no question about it, he was someone who was at his wits end.

"The minder, he was found passed out in his bedroom, a whiskey bottle in his hand."

"Is he still breathing?" Lex asked, watching the progress of the press conference on the television through the most critical eyes.

"Yes, he's still breathing."

"That's unfortunate," Lex replied, his voice chillingly uncaring, and to be honest, he was blaming this hapless Powers lackey.

"He'll be fired for this….."

"You should worry about your own job, given that Harry Potter has been made partial owner of Wayne Industries…"

"I thought it was just a business partnership," Powers said and he was sweating a little bit. This wasn't going to end well for him. "Well, there's no need to….no need to worry, I have everything under control."

"You don't sound like a man who has everything under control," Lex replied and true, the Derek Powers he knew a couple of months ago wouldn't sound so flustered.

"You should worry about yourself, because he's been gaining more ground in Metropolis."

"The name Luthor still holds a lot of clout in this city," Lex replied stiffly. He was confident that he would be able to defeat this flavor of the month. "Just because some rich boy who people are dubbing the second coming of the Beatles is gaining popularity does not mean that I'll be easily forced out."

"I'm not easily forced out yet, I'm still at Wayne, they can't fire me, only re-assign me," Powers said.

"Yes, and I expect Potter will take a close look at that contract, to make sure you don't have any loopholes in it that he can take you out with," Lex said, and he hoped that happened. He would be able to have a lot more leverage for this deal if Powers was a desperate man "For your sake, I hope that you have a good attorney."

"Now if I go down, you'll go down with me, Luthor," Powers fired back and Lex shifted his eyebrow.

"Are we really going to try this game, because you won't win, I can guarantee that much."

That being said, the press conference put Luthor in a foul mood and he had to step up the time table on the gas, because Potter could find a paper trail leading to him and he needed to make this deal before it could happen. It was almost time to cut all ties to Powers.

Perhaps permanently.

* * *

Helena made her way back up to the room after the press conference and she waited for her new husband to join her. Karen promised her some alone time, and while Helena was a bit reluctant to allow the younger girl to roam Vegas alone, Harry assured her that Karen would be fine.

That being said, after getting kicked out of three casinos for almost bankrupting them, Helena thought that they had a rather profitable little trip all things considered. She looked up after a few seconds and saw Harry standing in front of her.

"So…..you're not from around here," Helena said bluntly.

"And I'm sure you mean other than Britain," Harry said in an equally matter of fact voice.

"Yes, but you're not from another planet, are you, it's something else?"

"Something else, yes," Harry agreed with her, sitting down on the side of the bed. "I'm going to give you the quick version if you want it….."

"Whatever you feel is best," Helena said, leaning towards him and giving her husband a nice kiss on the cheek.

She already deduced that there are parts of Harry's past.

"I was born in an alternate universe, there was a secret society of hidden magical users that I was born into," Harry replied. "My parents were killed by the evil dark lord, my mother's protection saved me. I was sent to my relatives for ten years, we had a strained relationship. I went to a magic school called Hogwarts where I had all kinds of misadventures there. Made some friends ,made some enemies, defeated the Dark Lord, and then I was sent through the Death Veil where I woke up here without any powers, which didn't slowly start trickling back until six months"

"And by sent, did you mean walk through it willingly or someone sent you through it?"

"You know, that's something that I can't quite remember, but I think that between his power breaking and my power breaking, that world that I lived on doesn't exist," Harry said, there were a lot of parts of that world that he didn't remember other than vague generalizations and he wondered if it was because of some quirk of magic or if because he honestly didn't care enough to remember. He knew enough to know that was likely for the best. "Not that I'd ever go back."

"You put it all behind you," Helena said, understanding that.

"I couldn't see myself staying around those people much longer, they drove me nuts," Harry replied and that was the most sincere statement that he thought that he could give, given the circumstances.

Helena blinked and she nodded. "Fair enough."

"Can't say that I have any regrets that I ended up in the position that I was in," Harry told her.

"What kind of powers did you have?"

"Magic, and by magic, I mean an extremely weak form of magic, that you have to use a wand for but….by all indications, I might have evolved beyond that, if I had just stopped using it," Harry remarked. "I know I'm not one for details…"

"Well, to bring up the past will mean that we can't live in the present," Helena said. "My father told me that, which is funny given who he was. One would get the impression that he was living in the past."

Harry smiled, but said nothing.

"But enough talk, I didn't negotiate with Karen to get some time alone with you, just to sit around and talk," she said and she pulled herself up, her skirt riding up. Her stocking clad legs were exposed, and Harry smiled, placing his hands on her side of her legs, slowly easing her in close.

"Well, talking was the last thing that I was expecting….and since you can only remember bits and pieces from last night, I think that a do over is in order," Harry told her and Helena smiled, her lips finding Harry's with passionate fury.

His hands roamed her body, with things getting rather heated quickly.

**To Be Continued. **


	10. Catacylsm Part One

All three of them rested on the bed, completely satisfied with their actions but they might be inclined to go at it again, after they had some time to come down from their highs naturally.

Harry felt Karen drape herself over one side of him with a smile on her face and Helena join him on the other side. The dark haired female pretty much summed things up for all of them in the best way that she could.

"That was a lot more satisfying while sober," Helena said, snuggling herself into Harry's side, his arm wrapping around her waist. He wrapped his arm around her as well, pulling her tightly into his body and quite the body at that.

"You mean it wasn't satisfying before?" Karen asked and Helena raised her eyebrow. "No, because I think that it was pretty satisfying, very satisfying."

"No one is going to argue with you," Helena said, in amusement. She was pretty sure that her clothes were around her somewhere. Not that she needed them right now but the fact was that she wanted to know where they were at all times, because it would be a good thing to know, a very good thing.

Harry just smiled, allowing both of them to rest on him. He was about ready to suggest a shower with the pair of them, but to be honest; he didn't feel too inclined to break up that arrangement. That being said sandwiched between a dark haired female and a blonde female that was the life. It was an arrangement that he could get used to.

"So, as much as I'd like to be in bed all day….."

"Hey, if you want to be in bed all day, I'm not going to stop you," Karen replied with a smile towards Harry and once again Helena's eyes fixed on her, there was exasperation flowing through them.

"I could have sworn that you said that all of the after effects of the Red Kryptonite had been sweated from her."

"They were, but she's just naturally this horny," Harry said and in response, Karen grinded her ass against Harry's exposed crotch.

"Guilty as charged really, but I suppose we're going to have to get up eventually," Karen replied, she said this in the air of someone very grudgingly admitting something that she really didn't want to. That being said, the blonde's heart beat against her chest and she got to her feet.

A nice view of her ass followed but she walked over to the window. If there was someone there washing the windows, they would get quite the show.

"I do want to get back someday to see the fall out of what our little merger caused," Karen said with a smile.

"It was more of a business deal on my end," Helena said and she was looking for her panties. Then again, the more she remembered it; they were kind of soaked to the brim to be honest. "But I'm sure there were some people who hit the roof because of it."

Harry smiled, it seemed like everywhere he went, he caused a lot of people who took themselves way too seriously some major discomfort. To him, that was good, great even. Those were the types of people who deserved to be knocked down a peg or two or ten. That being said, Harry got to his feet as well.

"And you were the last one out of bed," Karen said but Harry reached forward and cupped her chin.

The two exchanged a kiss for a second. It was a bit too brief to Karen's liking.

"Just thinking…..you know ever since the press conference, we haven't taken a real look at what the press is saying," Harry said and Karen laughed.

"I'm sure that their speculating if that's the latest beginning of the end of Lex Luthor."

Helena shook her head and sighed. She wished but she knew better. "To be fair, they've been forecasting his end for years, but I'll give Luthor credit for one thing. He's a survivor."

"It'd be kind of stupid to count him out until he's been put in the cold hard ground," Harry said and once again, in the game of business chess, Harry had put Lex into check but it was not checkmate yet. He was backed into a corner though but the dog that was backed into the corner was more dangerous than the one that was allowed to roam free.

The businessman was if nothing else crafty, that was something that had been established time and time again. Harry paused at the bathroom, seeing that his two beautiful wives were following him on either end.

"You were thinking about it as much as we were," Karen said, deciding to cut in front of Harry and open the door.

"To be fair, we smell of sex and we could use a shower before we go out in public," Helena said and she turned towards Harry. "Unless there are spells to remove the sense….."

"Yes, purifying smells but they only maintain an illusion, which some witches and wizards haven't gotten, they're filthy as fuck, but since they had their air purifying charms, they think that they're clean," Harry said and both Karen and Helena pulled faces at the thought of that.

"So a significantly powerful witch or wizard would have been able to see through the illusion?"

"Pretty much they would be able to be see through it and most certainly fucking smell through it as well," Harry said with disgust in his mind and Karen shook her head.

"Smell through it, yeah I pity you…" Karen said and she paused something to consider. "Didn't you say that a lot of them were stuck in the dark ages?"

"Yes," Harry answered curtly and Helena and Karen exchanged a look of half amusement, and half disgust.

"Well that would explain their aversion to actual bathing," Helena told him and Harry smiled.

"That was among the many problems that they had but…at least I've found myself in a more civilized society," Harry replied and Karen smiled, placing her hands on Harry's shoulder and steering him towards the shower.

"I really have no idea how we got on this topic of conversation," Karen said with a confident tone of expression dancing through her eyes and Harry smiled.

"Weird post-sex talk?"

"That's about what I've figured," Helena said, reaching up to fiddle on the knobs of the shower, and causing the warm water to spurt out of the shower.

"Yes, less talking, more showering, the sooner that we get clean, the sooner we can get all sweaty again."

They neglected showering which meant they were missing out on some of the finer opportunities. To be fair, not all of them did, just the purest of the purebloods, who loathed to do anything that a Muggle did. To them it was magic, magic, magic, all of the way.

"That's an interesting way to look at things."

* * *

Lex Luthor paced back and forth like a caged animal. The partnership between Wayne and SLO, it threw all kinds of well-placed plans off. His ten year plan that he crafted so carefully was off. When you factored in STARR into the situation, well there could be a powerhouse that could remove LuthorCorp's strangehold on the world.

Lex wasn't going to get put into the gutter that easily. He had a meeting with Derek Powers today and no doubt the man was going to make an entire boat load of excuses for Lex to hear. About how things were out of his control, but if he would have had the Wayne heiress dealt with, like Luthor suggested to him, they wouldn't be in this mess.

But no, all that he would hear was a bunch of excuses.

'_That's all I ever hear come out of anyone's mouth.'_

Lex felt that any money he lost was because of the incompetence of others. For a while Powers had a strangehold of Wayne and Lex was on the road to unofficially owning the company. Now Harry Fucking Potter leap frogged over him and was well on his way of mastering the world in ways that Lex could only dream about.

He stormed down the stairs in a towering temper, not caring who he ran into and how he almost knocked one of his employees down the stairs in his fit. No Lex Luthor was pissed, he was beyond pissed, his temper was towering.

And now he didn't really care who he was going to take it out on, for his anger grew to a fever pitch, threatening to bubble over.

He was this close to strangling an employee over the simplest of things but he took a long and deep breath, wanting to save his angers for the one man who deserved it.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Powers stood there, brazen and bold, not like that he just bungled one of the greatest deals that either of them had ever put together. No, he had a shit eating grin on his face.

"The testing that you set up, was amazing."

"Yes, yes, of course, I wanted to personally oversee the final production of the gas," Lex replied, watching the chemicals get combined in the tanks. The expendable LuthorCorp workers hovered around like busy little bees. Many of them only spoke enough English to be useful. And those were the American prisoners, not the immigrant workers, Luthor minded himself.

If one of the tanks exploded, well nothing of value would be lost.

"I'm sure that mandates a position in this company."

Powers once again was fishing for a job and Lex had to admire the man's persistence but he was angered about him bungling.

"I thought you had an iron clad deal," Lex reminded Powers with a smile on his face. It was not a friendly smile either but one of those smiles that showed that he knew that Powers was spouting a whole lot of BS.

"Not so iron clad, when Potter will get control of it but we already had that conversation."

Lex's response was curt and cold. "I didn't notice, I couldn't find myself to remember half of what you said in the midst of all of the excuses you gave."

Powers smiled at him.

"I suppose you want to see the fruits of the one thing that you did right,' Lex replied and Powers raised his eyebrow towards him. "Follow me."

"Are you sure it's safe?" Powers asked him and Lex chuckled.

"If it wasn't safe, it wouldn't be in this building Powers, surely you could have figured that out by now?" Lex asked and Power's averted his eyes towards Luthor, before his head swiftly nodded. "Very well, now that I'll have no further inane questions, we can move on with the tour."

Lex pulled out the key card and swiped it, allowing them entrance.

"This is more refined then the prototype version of the gas you showed me," Lex said and the gas bubbled in the tank once again. Lex grabbed one of the migrant workers by the shoulder. "Careful."

The man nodded up and down, and Lex hoped that he had understood at least that one word. That being said, Powers and Luthor continued to take their tour around the facility.

"See the simulations, the death of a person will be slow and agonizing," Lex said and Powers could not help but say one thing.

"You would have liked to test it on Supergirl."

He would have but there was just one tiny problem.

"Given her alien biology, I doubt that this gas would even be potent enough to change the color of her hair," Lex replied swiftly, barely disguising the agitation in his voice, and he saw the gauge on the counter go up.

"What's happening….."

"Critical overload in progress, emergency lockdown protocols initiated."

Lex raised his eyebrow and Powers looked at him, nervously. The gauge on the gas chambers continued to escalate.

The businessman pulled out his key card and swiped it, but there was just one problem.

"Access denied."

"I'm Lex Luthor, emergency override sequence 805352," Lex said, and he waited for the machine to obey him.

"Access denied."

"Can't you control your own security?" Powers asked and the employees were looking towards Lex.

"What do we do, what do we do?"

The gauges on the tanks of gas reached critical and then they hit critical. A huge explosion resounded, and time seemed to slow down with the gas filling the room, where Powers, Luthor, and all of the workers were trapped.

Some of the workers were in the center of the explosion, they had no hope. The gas struck them down and sent them flying back. Their screams were quite blood curdling, not to mention painful when they all dropped down to the ground.

Then there was Powers, he was the one that was struck next with the gas. His eyes glowed in agony as he felt his entire life flashing before him.

Lex was closest to the door and thus furthest away from the explosion. He once again tried to force the door open with his credentials but access had been denied.

He built the security too well, the residue from the chemicals splashed against him, and he screamed in agony, with the top of his head burning.

There was a smoldering pile of green goo where Derek Powers once stood. There was a utility room that was beneath the lab that had also been sealed off.

Lex laid on the ground, in agony, the top of his scalp completely burned. His hair burned completely from the blast. The gas would dissipate once it had been worked out but would he be live along enough to feel it?

He was a survivor, he absolutely refused to go down. Not after all of this.

The air was a bit clearer but Lex could barely breathe, his lungs felt like they were on fire. After all of the vengeful employees that had took a stab at him, this was how he would go out.

He blacked out, his body going completely numb and wondering if he would die on the floor like this, pathetic and forgotten.

It was all Harry Potter's fault, he forced this, him and Supergirl as well.

* * *

"So, after this, I've got to take the flight back to Gotham City to take care of a few things, but…"

"I know, I know, and I understand," Harry said, patting his wife on the hand and Helena smiled. "Gotham City is your responsibility and…"

"We'll help out in any way we can, all you have to do is ask," Karen replied and Harry added in with a smile.

"We really will."

That being said, Helena smiled, taking a drink to really give herself something to do more than anything else. The dark haired female focused on both of them.

"Don't forget that you have a lot of responsibilities for Metropolis," Helena said and both of them opened their mouths to protest but Helena cut off their attempts to protest. "I know that Metropolis isn't anything like Gotham City but….."

"Say no more, we have some problems, but there are the same problems all around the world, and that's why the world needs heroes," Karen said. Surely she wanted a city that would not need a Supergirl but at the same time, she knew that might be a pipe dream. It was nothing like Gotham City.

The blonde fixated her gaze on the television screen that was in and she saw LuthorCorp on the screen. Normally the blonde would not pay much attention to that. After all, it was Lex Luthor, he found his way into the news an alarming amount of regularity. That was just really the bottom line.

That being said, Karen's mouth hung completely open and she listened in.

Harry wordlessly summoned the remote control and made sure to turn on the television so all three of them could hear it.

"LuthorCorp CEO Lex Luthor was rushed to Metropolis General after he suffered injuries in an explosion, where he has lapsed into a coma and is in critical condition," Cat Grant said in a hushed voice. "While the MCU are investigating the cause of the attack, foul play has not been ruled out. Several employees who were on this wing were discovered missing and might have perished in the explosion. One must wonder what LuthorCorp was working on."

Harry, Karen, and Helena all were thinking the same thing. Lex was working on something dangerous.

"Lex Luthor suffered severe third degree burns and his lungs were damaged," Cat continued to report. "The official word coming out is that before he lapsed into a coma, Lex refused to cooperate with giving any information to the medics who had hoisted him out of the damaged lab."

'_Typical,' _Harry thought, and it looked like he wouldn't have to deal with Lex. This might have killed him and Harry wasn't going to spend time shedding any tears.

Lex should have known better but the people who should have known better, almost didn't know a lot.

Meanwhile Helena was on the phone to Wayne Industries and she dialed it up. She waited to see the phone to ring.

"Has Powers left the premises any time during the last twenty four hours?" Helena asked and she waited on the other end of the phone. "I see….he chartered a flight to Metropolis…he might have been there….yes, I heard about the accident and Lex was…yes he's in pretty bad shape…..the news didn't say he was in that bad of shape. If Powers contacts you or anyone, let me know. I'll be on my way back in about eight hours, thanks, goodbye."

Helena shifted her eyes to both of her spouses.

"So…"

"Derek Powers was involved in this, wasn't he?" Harry asked and Helena nodded her head, cupping her hand underneath her chin with a sigh.

"Circumstantial evidence yes, but it's still there, and I've got to follow that line of investigation," Helena said, getting up to her feet. "He's been meeting with Luthor, and obviously their business deal gone south when I came back."

"So, you think that he tried to kill Luthor….."

"Not sure, but that's what I'll find out," Helena said and she looked towards Karen and Harry. "Do you think that the two of you could investigate the scene of the accident and see what's going on?"

"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt," Harry replied and Karen nodded in agreement, that was a good idea if she had to say so herself.

"So, the Honeymoon's over then?" Karen asked and Helena agreed with a smile.

"Yes, unfortunately, but it wasn't bound to last forever, I'm afraid," Helena said, getting up to her feet, and paying for their lunch.

They knew that Helena got here by Private jet when she was following the trail of the Royal Flush Gang. What happened there was spontaneous, but none of them were regretting a damn thing they did.

The chaotic stream of dominoes that had toppled thanks to the business deal, that would be something where the ramifications would be felt.

"The accident might have also had something to do with one of his latest plots to kill you," Helena added as an afterthought and Karen sighed, conceding that her sister wife had a point.

"Kind of goes without saying really, he's obsessed, isn't he?"

"It blew up in his face if that was the case," Harry answered, giving Helena a passionate kiss to tell her goodbye.

"Literally," Karen said and Harry looked at her with a groan. "I know, it's obvious, but I couldn't help myself."

As much as Harry enjoyed the banter, this accident raised a lot of questions and there were not enough answers to go with those questions for his liking.

"So, I'll get in touch if I find out something, and you'll do likewise if you find something."

"Yes, we will but….."

'_It might be more secure to talk like this,' _Harry said, which caused both of girls to jump up and glare at him, which caused Harry to laugh at their reaction.

'_You could have warned us that you could have done that,' _Helena said, giving him a glare of death but Harry did not back down, in fact he grinned.

'_Come one then, what would be the fun in that?' _

'_He does have you there,' _Karen conceded, despite the fact that she was just as startled by the fact that her husband could talk in her head.

'_Any other surprises that you might want to spring on us while I'm here,' _Helena thought and Harry responded oh so casually.

'_Other than the fact that I can spawn random orgasms through the bond link none that I can recall.'_

They had no idea whether Harry was being serious or not but there was no time for fun and games. Helena went her way, back to her jet and Harry and Karen made their way to Metropolis.

"ALFRED, get me all of the information that I've collected regarding Derek Powers and his rumored dealings with Lex Luthor."

"At once, Miss Wayne."

* * *

If they didn't know that LuthorCorp was the site of an accident, Harry and Karen would have thought that it was business as usual. It certainly looked like business as usual well except for something else.

'_Okay, the entire mental talk thing is really weird first of all, you do know that, don't you?' _Karen asked him and Harry smiled.

'_It might take some getting used to and not that many people could pull it off, because it requires an extraordinary amount of mental power and a keen ability to multi-task,' _Harry told her. _'Most people would go mad from it.'_

'_Well most people would go mad because of the simple fact that they have voices in their head.'_

Harry chuckled he wasn't not going to deny that obvious statement from his wife. That being said, the two made their way down to the ground, touching down outside of LuthorCorp.

'_Is it just me, or would you expect this place to be swarming with MCU….'_

'_Shields, because there was radioactive chemicals,' _Harry said, cutting off Karen's unasked question.

The blonde's lips curled into a knowing smile. The two of them ventured down the barren hallways, until they went to a complete stop outside of a double set of doors, leading to a lab. They were locked up tight.

'_It must have locked down after Luthor was hauled out,' _Karen thought. _'Someone like him, he would be able to afford the very best security on the planet.'_

That being said, Harry smiled.

'_I really enjoy a challenge you know,' _Harry said and he pressed his hands on the keypad there, and channeled a bit of energy from his suit through it.

There was a pause and Harry waited to see if his little trick worked.

"Welcome back, Mr. Luthor," the computer replied and Karen watched, mouth agap.

'_How….how….how….and I swear if you say magic…..'_

'_Well, that's the most sophisticated explanation,' _Harry said to her but he figured that a more detailed explanation was in order. _'But in reality, I took the latest imprint from Luthor's keycard and replicated it through a magical construct.'_

'_Oh, I get it, Luthor would have left some kind of trace from his key card so you brought back the impression with magic,' _Karen said with a smile.

'_It's really a low level magic trick really, not that I'm really capable of too much more and really the onboard systems on this suit are capable of just as much,' _Harry said and he stopped towards a large human shaped hole on the ground.

There were people here and their deaths were exactly quick and painful. He saw the tanks and did a scan of the residue.

Harry could not help but say this next statement out loud. "Whoever designed this gas wanted the person who was killed with it to suffer."

"Who would really be that nasty?" Karen asked and Harry turned towards her.

"But it's far more potent then I think that even Luthor said, once I take a look at his personal system, I should be able to divine what happened," Harry replied but he stopped at the human shape hole in the ground.

There was very subtle gas residue there, not nearly enough to be a hindrance, but enough to be picked up by the suit.

"That's curious."

Karen hated vague statements like that and she decided to get to the bottom of it. "What…"

"Well, the news reports said that Luthor was the only one carried out of here, didn't they?"

Karen racked her brain and nodded. "Yes, they're….he was the only one who survived. And no bodies were moved from the wreckage."

"Then tell me why is there a radioactive trail leading from this utility room into the sewers?"

Karen was at a loss for words and an even greater loss for any explanation.

"Luthor wasn't the only survivor, was he but…..I can't see anyone surviving that, especially judging by this hole, they were standing very close to the tank….."

"While Luthor was found pressed up against the wall," Harry replied to her and there were more questions and not enough answers.

That being said, it could be that someone was fortunate enough to stumble around a few yards before passing out and dying somewhere in the sewers, where his body melted. Which meant there was a pile of toxic sludge in the sewers that was lying in the sewers.

That wasn't actually a good thing come to think of it but the trail got really weird from there.

"We're going to have to go around and see if we can pick up the trail from another angle," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"Right, right, sure," Karen said with a smile. "Didn't you want to take a look at Luthor's computer systems?"

"One thing at a time, one thing at a time."

Karen would have to agree, the fact that there was someone who was infected by a cloud of toxic gas lurking around was a far more pressing problem.

That being said, the two of them zipped their way around and made their way to the entrance to the utility room.

"Is it just me, or did things get even hotter down here?"

"It's not just you," Karen said, she was pretty heat resistant but she was feeling the burn from this.

"There's a sewer exit in there," Harry said and Karen raised her eyebrow. "I made sure to get a good look at all of the entry and exit points in this facility when I paid my visit to Luthor a while back."

That made sense and the two of the made their way down.

"Isn't the sewers through this part of the town interconnected to a subway tunnel that leads to Gotham City?" Karen asked him and Harry was thrown completely off guard by this line of questioning. He nodded. "Just saying, Helena might be able to intercept whoever it is, if they got this far."

"Do you think that they got this far?"

"We should assume that they could," Karen offered and Harry opened his mouth. "And yes, I do know what they about assumptions."

Harry put his ear to the radio because any bout of sudden sickness based off of the straggler, they would have a path.

And Harry was working on a method to put the poor soul out of his misery. Because if he survived, he must have gained power, and that type of power would drive anyone insane.

* * *

Helena smiled, she was glad that Harry transmitted the energy samples from the accident when he and Karen investigated them.

Derek Powers didn't really show back up yet at Wayne Industries, and Helena wondered if he had been hoisted upon his own petard so to speak and had been suffered his own fatal injuries in the accident. She wouldn't be surprised if that was the fact even though she wasn't counting on that until there was a body found.

Of course, the chances of that might be astronomical.

That being said, the latest news was something that threw her off.

'_Something escaped…..Luthor was lucky to survive but from what you're telling me, someone that was right near the gas tanks survived,' _Helena thought, making sure that Harry had told her everything.

'_That something went into the sewers and the trail grows cold from there, no residue of what might be remains, nothing,' _Harry thought to her.

Helena pinched the bridge of her nose, making sure that her ear bud was adjusted in her ear. It was tuned to the frequency to the GCPD. Despite their corruption, they still would get calls from everything.

The official word was that Derek Powers took a leave of absence, with many speculating that he re-signed to avoid disgrace. Powers went from the golden boy of Gotham City to something else entirely in the span of an entire week.

'_It's always amazing how fickle the perception of people can get on a whim,' _Helena said.

'_Yup,' _Harry said darkly.

Helena listened once again and she made sure that her costume was on. The screams of terror were something that was second nature in Gotham City. Gunshots were about as common as birds.

Some families did call Gotham City home for generations but they weren't exactly considered the sanest of souls to be honest. That being said, Helena was moving forward and she could hear something coming in.

"The GothCorp plant has been attacked by a mysterious figure…..he is said to be glowing like a night light and with one shot, he vaporized the guards who tried to subdue him, he is considered extremely dangerous."

'_I'm guessing you found our guy,' _Karen thought and Helena furrowed her eyebrow and there was one word that came in response.

'_Maybe,' _she conceded after a moment, she wasn't sure but she was going to find out.

GothCorp was a company that was known for shady business dealings. If there was something dodgy going on in Gotham City in the business world, all you had to do was turn your attention to GothCorp and it was extremely likely the trail would go there.

It seemed to be a requirement to be a scumbag. Some of the owners were more upfront about their scummy business dealings. Other owners….well they were trying to maintain the mask of being respectable.

The front door, the titanium doors, were reduced to absolutely nothing. That was a foreboding experience if there ever was.

The counter on Helena's suit was going absolutely nuts and she wasn't sure if it was because of the straggler or if it was because of some unsightly project that GothCorp was working on.

It wouldn't be the first time that they had worked on some source of power that ended up poisoning Gotham City's water supply. There was a reason that a lot of people in the city bought imported water as opposed to drink from the tap. Especially with all of the times that various ghosts from Gotham's past like the Scarecrow or the Joker decided to poison the water supply.

"WHERE IS IT?"

Helena recognized the force, it was raspier than ever before, but she recognized it.

'_You're not going to believe this,' _Helena thought.

'_Believe me, there's very little that I wouldn't believe,' _Harry replied dryly.

'_I think it might be Derek Powers…..'_

There was a glowing green light from the room and a scientist backed against the wall, looking rather terrified by it.

"Listen…..I can get you help, real help…"

"There's no time, I like this, people fear me, as they should, they no longer treat me like their puppet, someone who got in where he was because of who his father was," Powers yelled, and he raised his hand.

His skin had been burned completely off.

'_He wasn't by any chance using meteor rocks to help create this gas, was he?' _Karen asked and this was more of a rhetorical question than anything else.

Batwoman made her way inside, and picked up an ice pellet from her belt. She wasn't sure if this was enough but she hand to try.

She flicked the ice pellet and it smashed against the back of her enemy. The sheet of ice formed around Powers and he was stopped in his tracks.

"Thank you, thank you thank you….."

"No time to thank me, just run, as far as you can," Batwoman said and Powers was glowing underneath the sheet of ice once again.

"You shouldn't have done that Batwoman!" Powers yelled and he tried to blast her, but she slid behind a lead lined table, overturning it and blocked the attack. "This wasn't about you; this was about getting revenge on Wayne and Luthor for doing this to me."

"You did this to yourself," Batwoman said firmly but the energy readings were making a nasty clicking sound on her suit which worried her to some degree. "Powers, you need to calm down, your powers…"

"You know, I prefer the name Blight," Powers said, his rotten teeth dripping with radioactivity.

'_Well he's given himself a codename, he's officially nuts,' _Karen thought grimly. _'Think you can hold him until we figure out a way to take him down.'_

"Shields are up to maximum security, Miss Wayne, but they will falter in forty five minutes," ALFRED reminded her.

"Joy," Helena said in a stoic expression, she was in for a fight.

**To Be Continued on August 22nd 2014. **


	11. Cataclysm Part Two

The investigation for Arcane and Supergirl continued in Metropolis, they were confident that their mystery man did not get too far. However, there was something else that directed their attention to the investigation.

The latest news report popped up and sure enough, Lex Luthor woke up and the businessman was ranting up a storm about how it was their fault that the accident happened. They weren't really going to touch that one but he had to be sedated and kept in a hospital room. The news report told them that he was current in a docile state, so they didn't really focus on that particular problem too much.

"Typical Luthor, not wanting to take personal responsibility," Karen said but she could see Harry's green eyes locked onto her bright blue eyes. The blonde's hips swayed and she took a deep breath. "But we got a bigger problem than that, don't we?"

"Pretty much," Harry agreed with her and he turned around, the area underneath LuthorCorp offered a clue. The problem was that they needed to put the pieces together and they would have what they wanted.

Easier said than done as much as Harry hated to admit that, his green eyes flashed in frustration when he tried to find that one missing piece to this puzzle. It was taunting him which did not put him in the best of spirits. Making sure to keep his temper in check, because he thought a lot better when his mind was clear, he tried to figure out what he needed to do and how.

'_Okay, there were other people other than Luthor down here,' _Harry thought, and he could see Karen look around once again.

She knew better than to touch anything but she didn't really need to touch anything to get what she wanted. The blonde stooped down and pointed out a burned out ID of some sort. Harry was glad that she pointed it out because it was almost missed upon the initial sweep of the crime scene.

"Do you think that you can restore the information on it?" Karen asked him and Harry looked over his shoulder towards her, his mouth open and he looked extremely thoughtful.

"Maybe, I'm surprised that it's intact the way it is," Harry said and sure enough the residue that was on it might point out a clue. There was some DNA still on it and Harry raised his hand.

Harry scanned the card, and sure enough it picked up DNA and it was a direct match to a party of interest.

"Identification, Derek Powers of Wayne Industries," the suit's onboard computer said and Karen whistled.

"Okay, we confirmed Powers was down here, but…..was he among the dead or was he…"

That was a good question and Harry got a sudden answer when he got a call from Gotham City. He could tell that Helena would never call them unless it was extremely urgent so he picked up the call. "What's the problem?"

Blunt, and to be fair, Helena was blunt as well. "Powers, he….benefited from the explosion."

There was the sound of battle and he could tell that Helena was trying to contain something or rather someone from going out into the city.

"So the gas gave him powers," Harry muttered, there were times where science could make even less sense than magic.

"Yes and no," Helena said but there was a lot of static in the line and it was hard to hear her. Even Harry's dedicated frequency could not get through.

"Okay, listen, if Powers is there, you make sure that you just say calm, and I'll be over there as soon as I can," Harry said and he paused, his response was garbled. The fact was that he didn't get any information, therefore he put the communicator away.

Harry's pained gaze sad it all, they had a big problem over in Gotham City, and a big problem over in Metropolis. The emerald eyed sorcerer had to make a tough decision as to what to go with from now and his wife's gaze was on him.

"We need to take care of Gotham City first, it's the greater problem, and…"

Karen didn't really need to hear any more than that, the blonde's lips curled into a smile and she said what he was thinking. "And it needs both of us, doesn't it?"

Harry nodded, he had some data here, data that he hopefully could compile to figure out a way to hold back Powers but right now, he couldn't worry about taking him down.

"So, what's the best and worst case scenario here?" Supergirl asked, turning to Arcane.

"Best case scenario is that his powers eventually turn him to dust when he burns out and we only have to isolate a small amount of radioactive waste," Arcane told her and the blonde nodded, before going to the question that she dreaded hearing the answer to, but never the less, felt like that it needed to be answered.

"Okay, so that's the best case scenario, so what's the worst case scenario?"

"Full nuclear fallout on the Eastern half of the United States."

There was no question about that, they had to get to Gotham City and quickly before time rna out, not only them, but for several innocent people.

* * *

Turn a negative into a positive, master your surroundings. Take your opponent's strength and turn it into a weakness to punish him.

Helena Wayne knew all of these things and she also knew that there were some things that were far easier to deal with in theory than they were in practice. The dark haired female felt her pulse quicken when she looked over her shoulder. Was time running out? She couldn't really say but there was one thing that was for certain.

It most certainly wasn't on her side. The woman lifted her hand into the air and she could hear Blight, she lured him into position.

"I don't even know why you try and stop me, this isn't about you, sure you might fancy yourself as a protector…"

"Then you should have figured out that this is all about me," Batwoman said and she sent a flash bang out.

Despite the fact that Powers had been turned into a glowing energy monster, there were still some human parts of him and his vision was necessary.

Batwoman checked the radiation shields on her suit.

'_Only ninety five percent, well that could be better,' _she thought but there was a lurching feeling in her stomach that she could not place.

If she allowed Blight to get outside the city, he could feast on more energy. The scans Harry sent her said one thing and that was that the radiation from the gas could not sustain him for long. The very thing that was essentially killing him also was keeping him alive so to say that this was quite the paradox would be putting things very bluntly.

"Come out, come out and play," he whispered in a gravely tone of voice, getting extremely excited at her.

Like a cork, a blonde blur flew in and nailed Blight with a full impact punch. The radiation shield from the Kryptonite was modified as such to protect her from most forms of radiation and it was enough to protect her from Blight.

"Okay, Powers, you're game is up now," Supergirl said and Arcane dropped down next to her.

"Ugh, terrible honey," Arcane said, shaking his head. Then to be fair, he had his share of terrible heroic dialogue dealing with the wacky wizard.

"Okay, fine it wasn't the best," Supergirl said with a shrug and she turned around, seeing Blight stand next to her. He looked like a completely gaudy night light but he was really dangerous. "You know, this isn't going to end well for you."

"Oh, I guarantee you that it will end perfect for me," Blight whispered, menacing dripping from his glowing green teeth. "You see, I will have my revenge on Luthor and Batwoman and….."

BAM!

Harry, not really in the mood to hear another villainous monologue, shot three glass pellets at the man in question. His eyes widened in surprise, the glow coming from them and he once again shook in surprise.

There was a moment where time ticked by and then another moment where it stood still. Those pellets were inclined to hold radiation but something happened, Blight broke free.

Harry made his move but the lights in the building completely blacked out. He wasn't sure if he connected, and until he had proof that he did for sure, he was going to assume that he really didn't.

The power in the building had been drained, even the backup power but Karen's eyes glowed like two little pinpricks in the dark with the only source of light coming from her heat vision. Which she would burn Blight with if she had half of the chance, providing of course it actually worked.

"I think that he got away," Helena said, and there was a frustrated sigh. She thought that Harry had him and she knew that Harry thought that he had him, so she really wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Maybe," Harry said, shaking his head. He wasn't about ready to give this one up as a lost cause, at least not yet.

The truth was that his suit managed to gain a pretty useful scan of the man in question, even if he got away.

"We better get back to the Lair….."

"The trip to my cave is shorter….well technically my father's cave," Batwoman whispered once again and that was a reminder that no matter what, she would always be considered to be second in line for her father.

"It would have all of the necessary equipment, wouldn't it?" Harry asked her and she nodded.

"I'm parked out back," Helena said but Harry put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from going.

"Does it have remote control?" Harry asked her and Helena's mouth popped open and she nodded in confirmation. She could sense her husband smiling at her, but she could most certainly see the bright smile that her sister wife had across her face. "Why don't you reprogram the car and cause it to go back to the cave, and we'll take the shorter route?"

"What, flight?"

"Actually, I've got a better idea," Harry said and he placed his arm around Helena's waist and did the same thing with Karen.

The sounds of sirens announced the incoming arrival of the GCPD and it was mentally agreed by, with all parties that they couldn't really stick around here, because they would get tacked.

The three of them disappeared into a bright light, just as the GCPD arrived. They were a bit late to the party, but they would have gotten toasted by Blight to begin with and they didn't have the proper gear.

Corrupt assholes or not, none of them got anything worthy to be killed. Be sent to prison to be someone's shower buddy, maybe? But killed was another matter entirely, some of them just accepted bribes to look the other way because of drug trafficking. They drew the line at murder, they had that much going for them.

One could really appreciate the twisted code of ethics that the corrupt would have in their own special way.

* * *

Harry Potter was impressed by the Cave but he doubted that there would not be a person alive that would not be impressed by where he was standing. The green eyed wizard looked around, letting out a soft whistle when he scanned the area around the cave. Karen and Helena were now out of costume and the hood on Harry's was down.

"Well, isn't quite like your Lair, but I think that it works well enough in a pinch," Helena said with a smile on her face and Harry's eyes locked onto hers. Green eyes met blue eyes once again.

"I think that it's what you do with it is the main idea, someone could work out of an abandoned warehouse, but if they are doing the best with the tools that they have, it's half of the battle."

Helena would have to agree and she was pleased that Harry approved of the cave, extremely pleased at that.

Karen's gaze looked around the cave, taking in everything that was there and the blonde could not help but say one thing.

"Is that a giant penny?" Karen asked curiously and Helena's eyes turned around with her, before giving the absolute honest and blunt answer that such a question mandated.

"Why yes, yes, it is."

Karen figured about as much but she just had to make sure. The blonde reclined back on the chair, relaxing. She really wanted to have a good look around but the fact is that they didn't come here to go sight-seeing, no they came here for business.

"Okay, the data that you have, is useful, both of the explosion sight and of him, with any luck, we should be able to track him, and formulate a more lasting way of putting him down," Helena said and she punched the data into the computer, trying to formulate a plan.

Karen wondered about something and she felt that she had to verify this. "By putting him down, do you mean…."

Helena's eyes averted towards her and there was a rather chilling stare, one that her father perfected during his time. The blonde was caught off guard by this one and she nearly swallowed from this one.

"I mean what exactly you think that you mean, but it might be the best for him, if these readings are right," Helena said to them and her eyes locked onto both of her spouses. "You don't have a problem with this, do you?"

"No."

Helena could hear her father's voice in the back of her head, how despite his brooding demeanor, he always thought the best for his rogue's gallery, and tried to rehabilitate them. And for a couple of them, there were happy endings where they lived normal lives. And sadly for others, they continued to go through the rotating door that was Arkham Asylum, getting worse and worse every time that they got out.

To kill a criminal was not a decision she took lightly per say, and she was sure that there would be some people that would disagree with her, without even blinking, because some people had strong beliefs about this. And there would some people who would think that she should kill everyone, from litter bugs all the way up to serial killers.

And there were people that were in between.

"To kill someone like this, will make sure that he goes wherever he needs to go in the end," Harry said, frowning. It was only due to a matter of proximity and also luck that he was able to survive for as long as he did, Harry knew that and both of the girls knew that as well.

"It's a mercy killing, with those powers, he's like a mad dog, a danger to himself and others, and at the rate he's going….."

Helena showed the simulation of the mushroom cloud that was going up in the middle of Gotham City. Harry and Karen watched it, stoic, and understanding.

"So, so much for him burning out into a cloud of harmless ash," Karen whispered, looking at the simulation once again and to be honest, she feared that something like this would happen but never in her most horrific nightmares did she think that this would be the thing that she would potentially have to deal with.

After all Gotham City had been through over the years, this would be the straw that could break the camel's back.

"So much for that, yes," Harry replied, but thankfully he had a way to contain him, at least he hoped that it was a way to contain him. And if it would put him out, then so be it, because Harry thought that Powers was already dead the moment that he was exposed to the gas.

Really it was a ninety five percent chance, something that many people would consider to be favorable odds but Harry wasn't really sure to be honest. He kind of was banking on the way to find it.

He was jotting out a formula, with Karen's mind managing to process what he was doing quickly enough and Helena smart enough to keep up with it.

"The problem as I see it is….." Helena said and she tapped her finger on the third line. "The problem is this chemical compound right here."

"It's a rare one, extremely rare," Harry agreed with her, there was no disputing that. For all he knew, he would have to go halfway across the globe for that one.

Karen's eyes flashed open in triumph but she struggled not to do a dance in triumph to match. Slowly, Harry turned towards her, a barely disguised grin crossing his face.

"Let me guess, you know where we could find some," Harry said, he could see that Karen was trying rather hard to find out so.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it, it's at STARR Labs," Karen said, she was rather pleased with herself. There was a lot of chaos going on in Metropolis, so she really hoped that her cell phone reception was not knocked off.

The blonde took out her cell phone, walking over so she could have some room to breath, and she dialed up Patricia's private number.

"Patricia?"

"Karen….what…?"

"I need the Compound Z95, you know the one that is locked up….well you know where," Karen whispered and Patricia blinked and Karen could tell that her mind was working with something. She leaned against the giant penny in the cave. "Patricia, are you there, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Karen, I'm here," Patricia said in a fairly nervous voice and she shook her head. "But you know what the Compound Z95 is?"

"Yes, I know what it is, but we need it…I'll explain when I get there, be ready for me to pick it up," Karen said and she didn't want to tell her this over the phone.

"Right," Patricia said, shaking her head, she hadn't really had a chance to talk to Karen since Vegas, therefore she had a lot of answers and really not that much time to give her them.

That was neither the time nor the place, there would hopefully be plenty of time to deal with that later.

"Harry and I will be there in a little bit, and…well there's another thing that I'll explain to you on the way," Karen said and Patricia seemed to bit overwhelmed. "Trust me when I say, I'll explain everything, and oh…go down to the place where it is and lock the door, don't allow anyone but me in."

Karen figured that Powers might be after the Compound Z95 as well, if he had any kind of sense. It could destroy his powers or it could increase them depending on how it was used. Karen shuddered, if his powers got increased any more, that might trigger the really big bang that would destroy them all.

* * *

Patricia waited fairly nervously, wringing her wrists out as she leaned back, what Karen told her made her wonder what exactly was going on around here. She thought that she was going to find out soon, although she wondered if she was going to like it.

That being said, after Karen up and went to Vegas, she had mostly been in the dark. There was a knock on the door that jolted her out o fher thoughts.

"Patricia it's me, open the door," Karen said and Patricia opened the door, and suddenly, she was caught off guard by Harry Potter walking in beside her.

Harry wasn't going to say that they could have teleported inside because that would have been fairly rude. And kind of defeated the purpose of having security that you could feel secure about.

"There are people getting sick around Metropolis," Patricia whispered and Karen looked grim.

"It's because of the gas Luthor created, and it's only going to get worse but we can worry about that later, do you have the Compound Z95?"

"Through here, as you well know," Patricia said, normally she would ask why Harry Potter was there with Karen but then suddenly it struck her. Maybe she was putting two and two together and getting five but she was pretty sure that she was close to figuring out what exactly Harry stood.

She should have known, given that she had a friend that had many of the same personality traits, but still.

"This is the very last sample on Earth…."

"I think that it should stop Derek Powers," Karen said and Patricia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Using a substance that can burn through a nuclear reactor to stop someone like Derek Powers, that seems a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"It might be a bit extreme yes," Karen agreed, sighing long and deep. "But he's not the normal Derek Powers right now…..he was caught in the accident at LuthorCorp."

Patricia heard about the accident, Luthor was vowing revenge on Supergirl for what happened to him before he was put to sleep

"Luthor's in the hospital, hopefully he'll stay there for a while," Patricia said, half looking at what Harry was putting together with interest but she knew that it would be folly to disturb him while he was working on something like this.

Karen sighed, and shook her head. "Yes, because his brand of insanity is the last thing that we need right now."

"So, he knows?" Patricia whispered and Karen slowly nodded.

"Yes, he knows."

Patricia raised her eyebrow with a smile.

"We went to Vegas and got married."

That caused the redhead to nearly jump ten feet in the air in surprise but she somehow steadied herself and brought herself back down to Earth. She was trying to choke out a word, because quite frankly they failed her right now.

"How?"

Karen smiled. "That's a long story…"

"Which we really want to do justice," Harry replied, fashioning the weapon and he decided to utilize the nearly created bond link since their radio systems were down. While he didn't want to grow overtly dependent on it, it certainly worked out well in a pinch.

'_So, has he been sighted?' _Harry asked her through the bond link and Helena piped in.

'_Yes,' _Helena said, it was still kind of unsettling to hear someone's voice inside of her head, even though she was just prone to roll with the punches right now.

'_I'll be there in about two seconds.'_

It took one second for Harry to suit up, and one second for him to teleport him and Karen there, with Patricia watching them disappear, an awed expression etched on her face.

That being said, the fact that Blight made his way to Metropolis Universe was rather curious, until Harry remembered exactly why.

"Fusion reactor?" Karen asked and Harry nodded in response.

"Fusion reactor," Harry agreed and there was really no more that needed to be said other than that. Things were getting dangerous rather quickly.

The good news was that Blight didn't get there yet, the bad news is, they needed to still stop him from getting there before it was too late.

In a pair of flashes and loud pops, both Arcane and Supergirl landed in front of Blight and the green eyes of Arcane burned brightly.

"You're not going to stop me, once I have this, I'll have enough power to hold myself together," Blight whispered, and his voice sounded rather strained. It was almost like every single moment of his life was spent in racking pain.

"Just listen to yourself, you might think that you've got things together, but you're falling apart, but I really don't have time to have this argument."

Judging by the readings, Harry didn't really have enough time but never the less, his gun was drawn and pointed directly at Blight. The menacing glowing eyes were locked on him and he nearly laughed with the weapon pointed in his face.

"And what is this supposed to do?" Blight asked and Harry smiled, deciding that it would be better off to show, rather than tell in this situation.

BANG!

The metal bullet shot through the chest and Powers could feel a chill, and the glow faded from his body, before reverting back into his normal flesh and blood form.

Arcane checked him on his suit, the radioactivity was down, but his organs had been damaged from the explosion to the point where he passed immediately after he was cured from the disease and turned back to normal.

Derek Powers was on the ground and dead as dead could be. His body shivered once again and Batwoman walked towards Arcane.

"I'm not going to lie, that was tad bit anti-climatic," Karen said and Harry smiled.

"Well, I'm not fighting these villains for other people's entertainment," Harry told her and Karen shook her head.

"What a nasty way to go," she commented but Helena fixed her gaze on them.

"It had to be done," Batwoman said, looking down at him. If Powers hadn't been messing with things that he shouldn't have been, then he would have lived to breathe another day but he hadn't and therefore there he was gone and dead.

Harry looked down at him, this could have gone much worse, and things had gone pretty bad. "Yes…..but we have other problems to deal with."

"I know."

* * *

Back at STARR, Patricia was taking the fact that Helena Wayne was the goddamn Batwoman rather well, because quite frankly it made all too much sense in her mind. It wasn't that difficult to put two and two together if one knew the woman's past.

That being said, they had a bigger problem, she always knew Luthor was obsessive, but this lacked all common sense to be honest. This kind of gas would spread out and be a poison and if it was just this small amount in Metropolis, then it would have been pretty bad to be honest but it would have been more manageable.

"This, right here, look at this, I don't want to make matters worse but….."

Patricia sighed and she slapped the latest reports down on the desk, with Harry, Karen, and Helena at work.

"A gas tank exploded in a warehouse in China, and also one in Brazil…Powers and Luthor had different testing sites all over the world, including in places where Americans would be shot dead on sight…"

"How did he manage that?"

"Perhaps by promising them a taste at the weapon," Harry replied grimly. He wouldn't really put it past Luthor to be honest, the man was capable of some very depraved things, and he didn't even want to know where he would scrap on the barrel.

Harry liked a challenge but at the same time, he liked one that was within reason and the more locations the gas tanks exploded, the worse that things wold get. He was thinking about of a way to get rid of a gas.

"Can't you just magic up a portal, and send the gas elsewhere?" Karen asked and Harry looked at her.

"First of all, portals have to go to somewhere, and I don't nearly have the power to magic up one, as you so eloquently put it," Harry said and Karen remembered, his powers had faded since he passed the barrier to this world. She looked apologetic at that.

"Right, guess that's out…."

"And you never know what might come out of the portal," Harry reminded them both and Helena nodded in agreement when she was looking all over all of the notes.

Her intellect should not have failed her now but at this present time, it was failing her big time. She really wished that she had a better option than the one that she had now.

Again, the dark haired woman enjoyed a challenge, much like her husband did, but one that was within reason. She would have a better chance of cleaning up all corruption in Gotham City.

"Some of the best minds that we have, and we can't even figure out a solution that is plausible," Patricia bemoaned once again, and that wasn't really critical of them, because she counted herself into it.

"If the gas had been in one area…..this might work," Harry said, and he closed his eyes, running over all of the probable scenarios in his mind.

He had a sample of a gas, every gas had to have some kind of a counter agent. Granted this was a very exotic type of gas but still Harry refused to believe that this situation was hopeless, even though all evidence pointed in that direction.

"I think that it could work," Karen said, seeing the complex calculations that Harry was drawing around. "But that's rare…"

"My company's been mining it for a while, we've got the only samples that are on Earth," Harry told her.

"Well that's pretty convenient," Karen said shaking her head.

"It should work, providing nothing else goes wrong to expedite the process of the gas, and we're still going to have some causalities, that's unavoidable," Harry replied and he dialed up the phone. "Yeah, it's me….try and evacuate the city…..yeah I know the Mayor will bury his head in his ass and pretend that there's nothing wrong, but there are people dropping like flies and the longer that they are exposed, the worst that it will be."

The elderly and the sick were the first to go down from this plague of Luthor's creation, mostly those who were close to LuthorCorp. There was a stream where children played that Harry feared that the chemicals might have contaminated, along with God only knows what else was in that water. He put up some repelling spells, that was still something in his magical arsenal but there was no telling how much it contaminated the air.

While the toxicity levels were not lethal, they were not concerning.

"Maybe you should get out of town as well," Karen said and Patricia opened her mouth once again but the blonde shook her head.

"She's right, out of the four of us, you're the least equipped, I'll take you to a place outside the city, where we can stay in contact…"

"You know with all of the explosion sites, there's really no place in the world that can be safe," Patricia said and Harry looked at her, raised his eyebrow.

"This place technically is not of the world, well not of this world."

Patricia raised her eyebrow and they popped over. She could see that they were in the midst of Smallville and to a set of caves.

'_Well I guess that you can go home again,' _Patricia thought and Harry lead her on through to see where they were going.

Their destination was beyond words, as far as she was concerned.

* * *

Lex Luthor was back in his lab after managing to subdue an orderly and put him in his place, without the other doctors being the wiser, now without any hair and he heard all of the reports that had been coming in, regarding the tanks that had been exploded and the evacuation of the city. He felt the top of his head and he could feel what was missing.

"They did it, they destroyed the world that I built," Luthor whispered, working on the means to save it once again.

It was all lost, but not completely, not really, Lex refused to let this one go and now the man kept working on the mechanical suit that would give him the means and the mobility to keep moving forth.

"I will save the world, no matter what the cost, they're not going to do any more damage," Luthor whispered, looking mad beyond all reason and he was working on a plan to deal with the chemicals that had been left behind.

Then he would deal with the three who had poisoned the world in the first place, Supergirl, Batwoman, and this Shadow Vigilante.

Lex would be heralded a hero once he took down the people who had put the world in peril. They caused him to be desperate enough to seek a deal with someone like Derek Powers, and Lex could feel that he was slowly dying.

The doctors might have been incompetent but they knew enough to know enough and what they knew was the fact that there was cancer that was slowly eating through his body, and causing him to have only days before he perished.

That being said, he had the means to sustain him, and he had survived certain death before, numerous assassination attempts. He refused to make his final stand be on some hospital bed, only kept awake by the life support long enough to suck every single penny out of his state.

The probe would drill down into the Earth and would siphon the chemicals into the Earth's core, so deep that it would not be a problem during his lifetime.

It was perfect, Luthor had a feeling, and now there was something else that he was ready, it was intended to be a military battlesuit, but now he would be able to take down those who had destroyed his world. It was a purple and green monstrosity and towered over any enemy.

There was a knock on the door suddenly. Someone must have found out his duplicity regarding his status at the hospital.

"Luthor come out, we want you for questioning, you're responsible for the deaths of countless people."

"No, I'm not responsible, officer, they are," Lex whispered harshly and he activated the remote control and sure enough, the battle suit walked over to him. It opened up and Lex's weakening body slid into the suit.

"Open up the door, or we'll come in and get you, Luthor."

"Of course, and remember, this is what you wanted," Luthor said, harshness dripping from his tone when he blasted the door open, killing the police on the other side instantly.

Now it was time to save the world.

**To Be Continued on August 26****th**** 2014. **


	12. Cataclysm Part Three

There was an odd calm before the storm in Metropolis, well mostly because a lot of people had been evacuated from the city, so there weren't that many people to stir up a storm. Therefore there was no chance for too much trouble to be caused.

That being said, the one person that was left was among those who would cause the greatest ruckus out there. The man had blasted through his lab, taking out the police officers who had try to bring him down. They were only doing their jobs, he supposed, but it still served to anger him.

'_They overstepped their bounds, they forgot who build this city!'_

How dare they do something like that, after he had built Metropolis right on his back? The bald headed businessman turned, his mouth curled into a sinister frown right there and he was searching for them.

"They would destroy everything that I built, if I let them get away with it, but you know, I won't let them get away with that," Lex whispered, a harsh tone dripping through his voice once again. He tested one of the onboard weapon system in his suit to see if it was functional. There was nothing like a field test to get things rolling.

The large stone wall was destroyed, being burned through. A wicked grin spread over his face, which got even wider the moment that Lex surveyed all of the carnage before him, looking like a kid in a candy store.

"Perfect, perfect, perfect," Lex said, repeating things three times in succession almost like it was some kind of verbal tic and he could see the city that he built, and he knew that he needed to save it.

The toxicity levels of his suit were off of the charts and things were getting worse. He was the only one that could save Metropolis, just like he had built the city. It was almost in ruin, it would have been nothing but the world's largest slum if it wasn't for the Luthor name and fortune. He saw the city once again, and he could hear the sirens of the people being brought to the hospital. Once again, Luthor grimaced once again, he felt misery for all of those people.

But it was not his fault, no it was the fault of Supergirl, along with Arcane and Batwoman, the four of them could have worked together. They could have built a better world but they chose to go against him, they chose to go against the natural order of things.

"We could have done something together, we could have protected the world," Lex whispered, his teeth gritting when he leaned forward and brushed his hand against one of the towers. The gas was causing it to decay.

It was a great peace of architecture and now it was decaying before his very eyes thanks to the gas that Powers created.

"SUPERGIRL, COME OUT AND FACE ME, FOR COMMITTING YOUR CRIMES!" Lex yelled out loud once again, and there was the rumbling of a car driving off. All of them were fleeing the city like rats escaping a sinking ship.

Lex's eyes crossed and a sneer once again spread over his face. He caught sight of his bald head in the middle of the reflection of the cop car, once again lifting his hand and slammed it down onto the motor vehicle. He made a fist and did it again, causing the cop car to explode.

"Perfect."

There was not a person on Earth that could stop him and Lex stepped forward once again, taking the probe out of his battle suit.

"You will save the world," Lex whispered harshly underneath his breath and it was unsure whether he was talking to his own reflection or the probe that he was holding in his head. The probe that he was caressing like a son, and the smile crossed his face, which was almost more like a wicked leer than a genuine smile really.

The laser shot through the ground and began to burrow itself into the ground. Lex knew that once it was in place, there was no coming back.

The toxicity levels increased around him, but his suit protected him. He stepped forward once again and there was a click of a gun that was pointed at him.

"Don't you respect what I've done with this city?" Lex asked, calmly staring down the gun at the barrel once again. There was a sadistic glint in his eye when he kept it locked onto the gun. "Don't you understand what I've done?"

"Yeah, you've flapped your gums a lot, that's what you've done," Turpin said once again but he felt like that he was grossly underequipped going up against someone like Luthor. Despite the fact that he had this gun that wouldn't even put a dent in him, the man was too pigheaded to not try. "So, why don't you stand down and I won't have to bring you down?"

"You're making a big mistake…"

"Yeah, maybe, but I see you standing here running your mouth, and you haven't done a god damn thing," Turpin said when he stared down Luthor. He never liked the man and now that he had been exposed as the criminal that he was, someone had to bring him down hard.

"I'm a man of action, Turpin, perhaps you'd like to see what I'm capable of," Luthor said once again and he lifted the hand of his battle suit, sending a huge vibration that would have split the ears of anyone who was near it.

Lex laughed once again, he was beyond all sanity, he had hit complete and utter madness.

"We better get away, he's lost his mind," Maggie whispered but Lex heard that, the suit allowed him to have super senses.

"No, Inspector Sawyer, I haven't lost my mind, but I've gain clarity and through my near death experience, I've seen the world in an entirely different way, the way that it should have been seen from the beginning, " Lex said and he stepped forward to close the gap. Up close, Maggie saw how mad that he looked. "You see, I will be considered the savior of the world…..and there's nothing that your so called heroes can do about it."

Lex was rambling rather madly and he was slowly, but surely losing his mind. The man's mind was cracking, and his man was crossing once again.

"Where are they now, I'm the only one who is doing anything, the only one who is capable of doing anything?" Lex ranted once again, going back and forth, and once again his crazed manic intensity flashed through his eyes. "WHERE ARE THEY?"

That was a question that went completely and utterly unanswered, because Lex walked off, thundering forward, craziness flaring through his minds.

Maggie watched Luthor leave once again, and she could see Turpin scramble up to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright," Turpin said, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, even though with a concussion there might need to be more than cobwebs that needed to be cleared. "We're going to need some heavy duty back up to deal with him."

Maggie could not dispute that and it was time to call in for some heavy duty backup. And it was obvious who this was a job for.

* * *

Much to their disappointment, the rumors of Lex Luthor's demise had been greatly exaggerated and now they needed to move in to take him down like the mad dog that he was before he caused damage.

"Lex Luthor has lost his mind if he thinks that he can save the world," Karen said in despair once again and she was sure that he moved across town to another, more secure, LuthorCorp facility. One that was equipped with defensive technology that was built for the military.

"He's long since lost his mind, but yeah you're right," Harry said and there was no hiding the grimness in his voice. His eyes once again went open and gone wider.

"We still have a chance to save this, to save the city, and the world," Helena said to Harry and Harry nodded.

"Yes, but we've got a bigger problem than that, because Luthor thinking that he's some kind of hero is going to destroy things quicker."

Karen had considered that fact and once again, the blonde brushed her hair back, showing her shining eyes forward. Her eyes narrowed in frustration; actually she had long since passed that level of frustration. She was completely and utterly out of her mind to be honest.

'_But then again, that's just what I need to learn to be like to match him, wits with him, all of the times I could have taken his head off, I should have taken his head off,' _Karen thought but Harry turned towards her.

'_Don't worry, I think that by all rights he should have been dead a long time ago,' _Harry thought to her.

He went there that night with every intention to killing him, or at least crippling him beyond all treatment. But Luthor had more lives than an entire army of cats. He was going to have to rip him apart personally piece by piece and make sure that he stayed ripped apart this time. The problem was that he had to find him first, and that was proving to be more difficult.

'_Well to be fair, a lot of people would agree with you, but he's been able to slip away,' _Helena thought. _'But this time his last life has ran out, if he's gone this mad.'_

That being said, first they had to find where he was holed up, then they had to break their way through where he was holed up, and then they had to take him down. Along with dealing whatever made scheme that he had to save the world.

Easier said than done to be honest and Helena was scanning the area to try and pinpoint a trail. She could see the attack drones that were hovering all around them.

"You do realize that the moment that these things get a scan on us, they're going to unleash that," Helena said, pointing to a load of rocket launchers that were lying dormant, at least for now.

"Yes, I realize that," Harry replied once again, but he was figuring out a way to deprogram them or at least burn them out.

He managed to hack into the twenty digit code in a blink of an eye. Harry learned how to adapt rather well, without the usage of magic, and he could hear a hissing around him.

"Please tell me that that is a good hissing, please tell me that's a good hissing," Karen said nervously once again and the balls were about ready to snap apart.

So far so good, the first levels were down and Harry needed to make sure that the rocket launchers were down. Otherwise that was going to put any people who had stuck around despite the order to evacuate in peril.

"The first layer of security is down," Helena confirmed and Harry turned towards her. Karen side stepped him, saying the question that was burning on the tip of his tongue for him.

"I know that I'm going to regret this but exactly how many layers of security are there?" Karen asked, knowing that she would regret asking this right now.

Helena gave her a smile, one that was extremely somber to say the least. She did a count to make sure before she confirmed. "There are at least nine of them."

Karen sighed and shook her head. There was something that all of them had to agree with one hundred percent of the way. That was Luthor and Luthor didn't really make things all that easy for them at all.

"We're going to have to find an alternate way in there," Harry told them both and Helena didn't really even blink or miss a beat.

"Well if you have a way inside, then by all means, I'm all ears."

There was something that was flashing on Harry's suit and that caused him to tense up. He was really confused by these readings.

"What the hell is Luthor doing?" Harry asked and he activated the holographic display once again, and he could see the image of something drilling into the Earth.

"Is he completely nuts?" Karen asked and there was no reason to answer that question because they knew it.

That was something that none of them were going to answer, because they all knew the answer to that question.

"So, worst case scenario, you want it," Harry said and both of his wives exchanged a tense look at each other and Helena responded with a poignant sigh.

"Yes, please," Helena said once again, her heart racing once again but Harry leaned towards her, placing his hand onto her arm.

"Worst case scenario is that he ends up blowing up the Earth, and we're pretty much fucked," Harry said and Karen hitched in a breath, she recalled what happened on Krypton. Meddling with the core of the planet could save it but Luthor was trying to bring chemicals down into the Earth's core. Chemicals that were already causing ecological changes in the air so it was hard telling what they would do to the center of the Earth, and needless to say the horror was obvious.

She saw Harry's diagrams and the chemical reaction was…well it would lead to something that would doom them all.

"Luthor is so obsessed with saving the world, that he doesn't think of the long term consequences," Harry said and he made a quick plan, hoping that it would work. "We need to get inside, shut down the drill, and shut him down for good."

It went without saying that Harry had a plan but having a plan and enacting a plan were two different things. That being said, he was more confident with his chances of success.

"Good plan, but will it work?"

"I hope it will."

* * *

Batwoman made her way down to the tunnel, taking her way down through the sewers deep underneath the LuthorCorp facility. Her role was to turn off the power to the building and she made her way into through the least secure point of the building so she could accomplish that task.

That being said despite it being the least secure, she barely avoided running into two security drones on her way down there. She pulled out a spray and caused the so called invisible security lines to appear. If she touched the laser grids, best case scenario she would set off an alarm, the worst case scenario would be she would be sliced to ribbons.

Determination flowed through her eyes and Helena bounced her way through the laser grid, careful not to touch any one of them. She landed on her feet and smiled.

She couldn't get too ahead of herself, there was still a little more security that she had to deal with. Walking forward, the dark haired female pulled back the panel once again and hooked her portable computer in.

'_The last security gate is down, that should allow you to get inside from the top floor,' _Helena thought to Karen. _'But just in case that you are…'_

'_I know, trust me, this isn't my first dance, nor it would be my last one,' _Karen replied and she was determined, knowing what she needed to do.

'_Just making sure that you know everything that you have to run into, there's no room for error, and I mean it, absolutely none,' _Helena thought and that just underscored how serious this entire situation was.

It was a three pronged attack that worked well in theory but many plans worked well in theory and less so in practice.

Helena would come in from the bottom, Karen would come in from the top, and as for Harry, well he would be knocking down the front door.

It was a three pronged attack where all of them would meet in the middle, and then it would be on and beyond to shut the drill down before it buried its way through the Earth's core, doing damage that could not be reversed.

Helena opened up the door to the stairway once again but the stairs had been destroyed. It was almost like Luthor had ensured that no one would be getting up the easy way. He likely was holed up in his lab which was smack in the middle of the LuthorCorp building.

'_So are we both inside and in position?' _Harry asked through the communication link.

'_Yes, I'm making my way up right now,' _Helena said, shooting her grapnel up and she climbed up a level, hanging onto the wall when she scaled it.

'_And I'm making my way down,' _Karen thought, and she used her heat vision to burn a hole through the glass. She slipped inside, her heart kicking up a couple of beats when she landed on her feet once again.

So far, so good, but that really didn't mean anything at all. They were less than halfway towards their destination.

'_And are you making your way in on your entry point?' _Helena asked Harry and Harry smiled in response.

'_Yes, I knocked down the front door and now I'm inside,' _Harry informed her once again and there was a rattling sound on the other end. Sure enough, Harry could hear something once again, but he managed to disable the sensory panels with a sticky fluid that shot out of his suit.

'_I don't want to ask you what that was,' _Karen thought, there was a rather perverted thought in her mind, regarding what the applications of that fluid could potentially be used for.

'_It's a chemical compound that disables most electronics, and it also can be converted into an explosive with a slight press of a button on my suit,' _Harry commented with a smile. After all not everything he learned in that world was not all useless.

'_You're going to have to tell me how to make some of that, it could be handy,' _Helena thought, recalling the many times that she could have made use of such a fluid.

"Intruder….."

Helena fired a throwing dagger at the robot that tried to attack her. The dagger bounced off of the robot when it struck it.

Karen made her way down from the top floor, and smashed the robot to bits.

"I was handling that," Helena told her and Karen smiled.

"I know, but I think that I handled that just a little bit quicker," Karen fired back with a smile on her face but she decided to inform her of a little problem. "Elevators are down…."

"And Luthor destroyed all of the stairs, I know…."

"Wouldn't make it easy, but then again, what's the fun in that?" Harry asked, popping up and nearly startling them when he turned up. "So, are you ready?"

Both of the girls nodded, and it was time to pay their resident mad scientist/businessman a visit and put a stop to this right now.

They had a lot to fight through, with the various pieces of technology that he scraped together. There were more than a few alien invasions over the years on this world and some aliens had a bad habit of leaving their toys around.

'_Never would have pegged Lex as the type to be a hoarder, but I guess that makes perfect sense,' _Harry thought and both of his wives would have to agree.

"How much you want to bet that where the security is the tightest, that's where Luthor is holed up?" Karen asked, seeing Harry disable one of the disc devices that were sent at her. It was very lazily and very casually about how he did so.

"Well, that goes without saying," Harry told her with a smile crossing his face and he thought that he could hear Luthor on a rant of some sort.

He was assuming that the man would lash out at them, like a deranged pitbull and try and take them out. And when he did that, they would be ready to go, for better or for worse.

"Come in, I've been expecting you, you've been put on trial for your crimes against the entire world!"

"And he's been taking his crazy pills today, wonderful," Karen said with a lengthy sigh.

* * *

Foreboding statement was in fact foreboding, but Supergirl, Batwoman, and Arcane knew what they were going to have to do next. Time was not only on their side, but time is running out.

"Luthor has another nasty surprise for us, he just wouldn't let us come to him," Arcane muttered, and he got a couple of looks about being obvious.

Never the less, a hovering platform showed up once again and shot several silver rings at them. They dodged it, with Supergirl, knocking it against the wall, and then Harry further putting the platform out of its misery with a huge blast, which reduced it into pieces.

Now that was done, Harry decided to knock down the lab doors and he came face to face with Lex Luthor, who was in a large honking battle suit, monitoring the progress of his probe.

"I'm sorry Luthor, but that suit….it looks like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon," Supergirl said and the fact that she was making fun of his highly practical battle suit, well it caused Luthor to see red and his rage continued to bubble over.

"You know, among your many flaws, rudeness appears to be one of them," Lex whispered, his voice dripping with an absolutely intense amount of harshness and Harry smiled once again. Supergirl and Batwoman turned up. "The world's heroes…you see, I've done what you say that you've done, I'm going to save the world."

"You are going to destroy it Luthor, that drill, it's going to damage the Earth's core and kill the entire planet…."

"According to my simulations, that won't be for a few hundred years, which I will be long dead, and so will you," Luthor said and he was about ready to continued his villainous monologue but Arcane knocked him backwards into the wall with the best force he could manage before he could really hit his stride.

Luthor flew ass over tea kettle, landing onto the ground, his suit protected him but there was also one problem, his suit was damaged.

"No, that's impossible," Lex said, but he still had a few trips, naturally the sonic grenades that were a part of his suit should be a useful tool to take down his enemies.

Said grenades shot out at a rapid fire fury and the heroes dodged these attacks once again. Harry was scanning his suit, pinpointing a weakness in it.

'_So do I have my power levels increased where I can safely do this, without blowing everyone up, or do I have to do this the old fashioned way?' _Harry thought and the data pretty much told him the story. He now knew what he needed to do. _'The fun way it is…..wonderful…but I guess that's just to be expected, and that's just life.'_

Supergirl rammed her fist into Luthor's face, forcing him to skid back and cracking the suit once again.

"You don't get it, you don't get it, I'm saving the world," Lex managed ranting in a delirious manner and the suit was sparking as she pried it open, like a can of tuna.

"It's time to put you down like the mad dog you are," Supergirl said and she saw Batwoman out of the corner of her eye.

There was only one mission in her mind and that was to stop the drill before it reached the point of no return.

More of Luthors drones show up but Arcane put up a field that repelled them. It took every fiber of his being to do so but he did so and the drones were repelled.

"Impressive, I almost think that you're…..ARGH!" Lex groaned once again and he felt his suit being dismantled. He had already knocked Supergirl off of him at the heat of the moment.

"Made a mistake, a mistake that anyone could make, but a mistake, now I'm not going to let up until I hold your still beating heart in my hand," Harry whispered with a smile on his face and through his arrogance, Luthor felt a surprising burst of fear.

"You can't do this, you're one of the good guys…."

"You seem to think that you are as well, and you seem to have no problem with killing a lot of people," Harry said in a dry and stoic voice, slowly ripping Lex apart piece by piece but Lex had one last act of defiance.

Namely, the drill which he suddenly and angrily blew up the manual controls, causing the drill to be unable to be stopped unless they went down and stopped it themselves.

"Now, now, you have to stop the drill with your hands, if you wish to stop it but why would you stop it, the world would be a better place?" Lex asked suddenly but his suit was ripped open like a tin can and the creamy and quite weakened by the cancer Luthor filling was yanked out.

The force broke every single bone in his body and punctured many of his vital organs.

"I will survive, don't worry, I will survive, and we should do this again some when I'm out of jail," Luthor said, the rib puncturing the heart and he struggled to pump blood. His eyes grew blood shot and he practically foamed at the mouth. "The world, it's all beautiful."

Lex's meltdown was a horrific sight to see when he slowly faded into nothingness, blood pouring down from his mouth, his limbs twitching in every single direction. He was sent to the wall, and his head exploded into a gooey mess when he connected at full force.

There was no time to clean Luthor's brain matter off of the wall, because they had a far bigger problem at hand.

"We've got to stop the drill," Batwoman told them and Arcane turned around, nodding in agreement, the drill was the most imperative thing to stop but were they too late? They would find out shortly.

Karen hoped that she could repair the controls and stop it on this end but unfortunately that was not to be.

"He damaged the controls, we might not have a way to track it now," Karen said, biting down on her lip furiously but Harry sighed, putting his hand on his wife's shoulders and trying to return her back to reality.

Where there's a will, there's a way, that was what he always said, and suddenly, Arcane tried to track it.

"Metropolis Square, that's where it was launched into the center of the Earth," Harry said suddenly, and they flew forward.

But they were too late, much too late, the drill completed its journey and the probe was beginning to draw the gas right into the center of the Earth.

The air was breathable but breathable air was not worth the consequences that Lex Luthor, even after his death, had imposed on this world.

* * *

It was one of those good news, bad news, and worse news situations, and Harry was trying to piece together which level of news that he found more alarming with each piece that he received. Slowly he broke down where everything stood in his mind.

The good news, what he guessed was the good news that was, was that the air in the city was back to normal. In a slight twisted way, Luthor's hair brain scheme worked, in the sense that it caused the toxicity levels in the Earth to build up.

"The problem is, Lex erased a dark cloud but created a tornado," Harry told both of his wives as they sat around him, looking extremely somber and this was the darkest hour that any o fthem had to ever face. Which was saying something with them. "The gas is creating a chemical reaction in the Earth, and it is much sooner than the few hundred years that Luthor theorized."

"How soon?" Karen asked with a sigh but suddenly she looked up in the sky and blanched.

There was a red sun that was beating over them and the blonde opened her mouth up once again.

"So you noticed the new sun, and this entire red sky and pink clouds, it doesn't look very healthy out there, doesn't it?" Harry asked and Karen blinked, before shaking her head, the blonde not enjoying what she saw and things were bound to get worse by the moment. Her heart beat just that much quicker when she looked up in the sky and saw the doom that was flashing over her head.

"He managed….how…..this is bad," Karen whispered suddenly.

"The bad news is that if Luthor hadn't intervened, we wouldn't have this problem," Harry said and there was a sense that he was blaming himself a little bit but he didn't come out and say it. There was just something based in his body language that he was blaming himself for what happened.

"Luthor was a sick man and he got even sicker," Helena said, going over the readings and yes, there was a lot of doom and gloom there, as much as she hated to admit it.

"Earth will blow up, won't it?"

"Well, the best thing we can do is ease the pressure in the Earth's core, and buy us, maybe a couple more months," Harry said and Karen looked at them, biting down firmly on her lip, which she had an unfortunate habit to do when she was worried about something.

"A couple more months, that's it?"

"And it would take a timed effort to get something down there, the gas is heating up the Earth, do you see the temperature on the wall?" Harry asked her and Karen's eyes averted to the temperature and nearly blinked.

It was over a hundred degrees in December in Metropolis and it was steadily rising and it would only get worse from here.

"So, Earth blows up or is cooked like an egg, that's wonderful," Karen said, an acidic tone to her voice when she crossed her arms and she shook her head when Harry's eyes fell on hers. "I know, I know, I shouldn't sound so bitter, but…..there has to be something that we can do, some way that we can help?"

"If there is, we would, but there isn't, as you know," Harry replied but he was hit with a sudden burst of inspiration. "But when there's time, I'm not going to start trying."

"And what if we run out of time?"

Helena gave this statement once again, but the truth was that she would keep fighting until her final breath.

'_We could have saved it, if Lex hadn't stuck his nose in where it didn't belong,' _Harry thought and once again frustration burned through him.

Of course, it wouldn't need saving in the first place, without Lex and Powers doing what they did.

"There's no need to worry about what could have been, rather we could have worry about what we can do now, and before it's too late," Karen said and she was ignoring that nagging voice that was in the back of her head that told her it was already too late. "I guess the best way to do so is to try and buy us time and….."

Karen wiped the sweat from her brow once again and she could see the temperature slowly creep up. Her powers were fading rather fast because of the lack of yellow sun that she received.

She could see Harry bent over something in deep concentration. To bring the gas out of the Earth's core would cause a chain reaction that would make everything go completely boom. That being said, there had to be another way, to ease the burden that the world was suffering, but the problem was time.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't really. Which made the entire finding a solution thing to be kind of agonizing to say the very least.

Time was the one thing that was not on their side.

"Let's take the work that we used to deal with the gas as a groundwork, and work from there," Helena suggested and Harry smiled at that fact.

"The best plan that we have, I suppose, and the research is mostly there," Harry said and Karen moved over to turn on the air conditioning, she never thought that she would have to use it in December.

Hell she never thought that she would have to need it period. Times changed however.

* * *

It was nearly past Midnight, and they had been working fairly late into the evening as well. Harry once again shifted himself from where he sat and he gave a lengthy sigh when he looked everything over rather carefully.

"I suppose that…..well I suppose that things could be a little bit better," Harry concluded with obvious frustration. Every scenario had struck a dead end.

"That probe will melt before it gets to the center of the Earth, it's too hot, and…it's boiling out there, draught conditions and….no chance of rain," Helena said, keeping her eye to the weather report. "Scientists are baffled by the cause of this…."

"Yes, I know, they're baffled, but I'm baffled, and I can't figure out how to reverse the crisis."

Karen got up to her feet, pacing around, now that she knew how her mother felt, when the inevitable explosion of Krypton occurred. It seemed like an entire lifetime back but the fact was that she was experiencing a sudden case of Deja-Vu, with all of the despair that came along with that end. The blonde's long sigh got even more prominent, her frustration got even more evident, and it looked like she had her back against the wall.

"Go take a break if you need one," Harry said to her gently.

"No, I'm fine," Karen said, and she sat down, with Harry giving her a critical eye. "Okay, I'm not find but….you know, we don't have much time to take a break. And besides, you look like you're about ready to hurl that half finished probe across the room."

Harry looked at her, with a real guilty as charged type expression etched on his face, but it was what it was to be honest. He wanted to throw something and he would have strangled Luthor for this, if he wasn't already dead.

"We have access to some of the greatest and most efficient science in the world but we can't seem to come up with a working solution," Harry said and there was no question about it, his frustration was at its peak once again. He didn't even bother to bring up magic, because throwing in the ultimate combustible element on top of everything else was just inviting trouble.

"Where there's a will…."

"There's a way, I know," Harry said and he wasn't going to entertain the notion of magic, because of how unstable the Earth was, it was like pouring gasoline on a roaring fire.

The elevator dinged and Patricia showed back up to join them.

"I thought that I put you in a safe place," Harry said and she smiled in response.

"While there was no place safer than where you put me, I don't think that any of us are going to be safe right now, the amount of forest fires have increased," Patricia told them and there was a grim notion with all of them. "You don't suppose…"

"I do suppose, and I really wish that there was another way, something, anything to stop this," Harry responded to her and there was a grim tone to his voice. Patricia walked over towards the group and joined them.

"I might have a couple of ideas that might slow it down," Patricia said once again and the three overworked heroes looked at her. She gave them a smile. "It's obvious that you need all of the help that you can get."

Karen smiled, even though it was kind of faint and really strained. "Obviously, we do, what do you have?"

Anything that they could do, even a longshot was far better than the shot that they had. The world's lifespan might be measured in days, if that. For all they knew ,things could go from bad to worse in a couple of hours.

That was a charming thought to deal with on this morning.

**To Be Continued on August 29****th**** 2014. **


	13. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter Thirteen: Down the Rabbit Hole.**

* * *

"So have you ever been in a hopeless situation like this?" Karen asked Harry and she figured that he might have been, he did seem like the type but he wasn't going to let it bother him. But on some degree it did bother him.

If Karen was honest with herself, it bothered her as well. Especially when it gave her all kinds of Krypton flashbacks, with the world being at an end and people either not being able to do anything about it or worse people denying that it even happened like that.

Harry thought back to the good old days, but the problem is, when someone used the term the good old days, it wasn't so good. Of course, he realized that the good old days wouldn't be so good back even back in the good old days, but that was just him. At least what he thought.

"As hopeless as this, I don't think so," Harry said and Karen nodded in response once again. "But there have been times where things seemed hopeless, but as long as there is life, there is time."

"Even though we're running out of time," Patricia said once again, she hated to be a bit of a downer, and a little bit of optimism would allow them get through this situation.

"At this rate, I would agree," Helena said her, business like and determined. Given who her father was, she would take the pragmatic approach, even if she could not match her father. "But we do have a few options, but can we complete the probe on time?"

The ball was thrown back into Harry's court and the green eyed wizard looked at her. His mouth was open and there was one word that came out of his mouth based on this.

"Maybe," Harry told them, and both of them blinked, seeing Harry put it together. He hoped that this worked because there was no time for any redos. "Hand me that part, and then we'll test it through the simulator, we might have to modify it a bit to match the new conditions to the Earth."

"It's too bad it isn't ready," Patricia said and their attention was locked onto her. She shook her head and stammered a little bit. "Just….just thinking out loud, you know."

"Well if it's anything that can help us….."

"I'm not sure how much it can help us," Patricia said, handing Harry a tool to put the probe back together. She thought about it, it was an outside gambit anyway even if it was ready. "You remember STARR's new moon base that we were putting together by next year….."

"Yes, it was supposed to allow us to take the studies of the mysteries of the universe to an entirely new level," Karen answered, but sadly she felt even more despondent when she realized that plan would be snuffed even at the best of times. "But you know that wasn't supposed to be done within the next six months."

"Yes, I know," Patricia sighed. She watched Harry walk the probe across the room and crossed her fingers, hoped against all hope that this would work.

'_Well her goes nothing,' _she thought and once again a sigh escaped her lips.

"….Make sure to crank up the temperature…"

"But I'm just thinking out loud of what would happen, hell I don't think that it would be feasible to move everyone in the world onto the moon," Patricia said, checking the data and the latest news reports came in. Each gave them more dreadful information than the last. "Especially with a lot of government officials are trying to claim that nothing is matter."

"I think that weather hot enough to melt your skin qualifies as something being the matter," Karen said crossly, she really felt the need to head desk and badly, really badly to be honest. She nearly was about ready to lose her mind.

"Well that's politicians for you," Patricia said and Karen gave a heaving sigh.

"Krypton had no room to talk, given how much they stuck their heads into the fucking sand, although they didn't stick them far enough, because otherwise they would have seen the core build up about to happen," Karen said, brushing the strand of blonde hair from her eye and she shifted herself to a more comfortable position.

'_About ready to lose my fucking mind over this,' _she thought.

'_Welcome to the club' _Helena thought, Harry silent due to the fact that he had work to do.

The only saving grace was that if Harry figured the probe out, he might be able to undo what had been done before it was too late. All they could do was hope for the best.

The simulation was coming up and Karen crossed her arms, biting on her lip hard. Only time would tell what would happen next.

'_Come on, come on,' _she thought urgently and this could go really right or entirely wrong.

She wasn't the only one that was crossing her fingers, Harry was staring intently at the box and there was a glowing that filled the room. He waited, and watched, and waited some more to see what would happen when the probe would go through the simulation.

Suddenly, the chamber inside was starting to melt once again and that caused the group to jump back. Harry turned around to Patricia, about to tell her to shut it down but she was already there, thinking quickly.

Harry grumbled and looked at the damaged chamber. He thought that it would work.

"So, that didn't work as well," Patricia said, the heat had overloaded the chamber and caused a malfunction. Thankfully the automatic cooling system had managed to lock onto place before a fire had started in the rest of the building.

"Yeah, that's going to really put it mildly, I mean, really," Karen said and once again, she wanted to slam her head onto the desk. Helena gave her a warning glare to keep it together so she did.

Harry stepped forward, his hands working on her shoulders once again, and the blonde closed her eyes, hitching in a deep breath. Despite everything that she had been through, there was no denying the fact that Harry not only had some magical hands, but he knew out to use it and the blonde was rather accepting of these actions, relaxing underneath his amazing grip.

He stopped and leaned forward, whispering into her ear. "So, are you feeling better?"

"Yes, I'm feeling better, much better, thanks a lot, and I mean that," Karen said, leaning back, feeling the tight shirt pull against her breasts once again, but she adjusted it. She seethed on the inside, but was enough at ease to keep her emotions in check. "I'd feel a lot better if I got to kill Luthor."

"Luthor is already dead, remember that."

Karen turned to her husband and gave him a lengthy and pressing sigh once again. His hand brushed her hair away from her eyes.

"Yeah, I know that, and good, I'm glad, wish I would have popped his head off sooner, it would have saved me a lot of grief," Karen said, but there was no use in crying over spilled milk right now. That being said, the blonde could not help shaking off the feeling that it might have been a bit too little, way too late.

"You are on a long list of people who wished they would have offed Luthor years ago but what's done is done," Helena said and she looked at the latest news reports. Her eyes narrowed in fury, on one hand she could not believe that people were this dense. On the other hand, she really believed they could. "I don't believe it…..a lot of people are trying to say that nothing is wrong."

"And a lot more are trying to pin the blame on global warming," Patricia added, and Karen and Helena looked at each other and then both sighed.

"Well, this is far more complicated of an issue than that, even though it's right to an extent," Harry told her, and he pulled himself together before it was back to the drawing board. "There are other circumstances…..circumstances that are far more complicated….."

Harry's momentum was lost and he returned deep in thought, trying to figure out a way to shield the probe.

"Yeah, complicated, what in life isn't complicated?" Karen asked and they ran out of time and had even less options. "So, the moon base is out."

"Even if it is completed, there is no idea what changes are going to happen with the gravitational pull of the planet," Harry told her and Karen let out a lengthy sigh, scowling at what he reminded her of.

"Must you make a lot of sense," Karen said through gritted teeth.

"It's true, if the planet doesn't blow up, it is just going to burn out," Patricia said, pulling up the latest numbers and this caused the redhead to frown.

"And….." Helena said, but words failed her when she spotted the numbers.

"Wonderful, that's just wonderful," Harry muttered, he rapidly tried to figure out if there was any way to cool the Earth's core.

Cooling potions were difficult to brew and they still needed to get it down there. The same thing for any kind of coolant to be honest, it would just burn through like a super nova. Both options were completely off the table.

Speaking of super nova, there was a blipping warning on the computer that gave them even more good news.

"The sun's about ready to turn super nova," Helena whispered, eyes fixed on the blinking device.

"Oh that's great, more good news," Harry said, and he threw his hands up and stormed from the room, that was the one piece of bad news too many.

"He didn't just throw his hands up into the air and give up?" Patricia asked but Karen shook her head.

"I think that he's going for a walk, you know, to clear his head and think rationally, at least that's what I think that he's doing," Karen said, she wasn't really completely sure to be honest what was happening. All that she knew was that Harry was getting close to losing his mind.

He was in good company, but Harry returned and the windows rattled briefly. Then they settled down.

"For the record I'm fine, let's look at the sample of the gas once again," Harry said, trying to keep some optimism in his voice.

"Don't shoulder the burden, please," Helena said, she could tell that he was taking this as an insult that he could not figure out how to solve this problem, honestly speaking, she was kind of taking this as an insult, an equal insult as well.

There had to be a way, there always was a way but the problem as she saw it was to figure out how to do it. And she could see how much time that they had, it was none, and she knew it, Harry knew it, Karen knew it, Patricia knew it, and eventually, likely by morning, the entire world would know it.

* * *

"Maybe, just maybe, they'll admit that something is wrong when the world blows up in a fiery ball of death," Harry said as he pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back with a prominent sigh.

There were papers scattered as far as the eyes could see. They had tried to send another test probe down to the Earth's core, but it wouldn't break the crust. It even melted before it reached that point. So it was back to drawing board for what seemed like the tenth time today.

Karen slammed her fist down on the table, causing it to collapse and Patricia to slide back on the chair with a start.

"I feel your pain, but you shouldn't take your frustrations out on the table, it didn't really do anything."

Karen would have normally smiled at something like this but to be honest, she was distressed beyond belief.

She saw the sun and it was glowing brighter and redder. The temperatures didn't crawl up that much more, but they showed no sign of drawing.

If the temperatures dropped, she would have really felt a bit more ease at this, but the fact that they were staying steady, she was remaining cautiously optimistic.

"Power is down across the world because of sunspots, the only reason why we still have power is because STARR has a more sophisticated power grid and thank you for that by the way," Patricia said and Karen placed her hands on the top of her head.

Harry was bent over a diagram, making all kinds of different measures but there was a beeping sound that startled them all.

"Please tell me that's some good news," Karen said and Helena walked over, ripping off the piece of the paper.

"Well, do you want the latest weather report?" Helena asked and Karen turned towards her.

"Don't sugar coat it, are we going to have fire rain from the sky, acid maybe, snake venom?" Karen asked, trying not to sound too caustic, but looked as if she wanted to punch something.

Harry gripped her hand with one hand and continued to work on his diagraming with his other hand.

That actually kept Karen rather calm but never the less, she looked towards Helena with imploring blue eyes. These were the types of blue eyes that showed a lot in them, and showed her abject frustration.

"So what do we have to deal with?" Karen asked, her voice oddly calm and even, or at least more so than it would have been normally. She couldn't afford to really freak out now, because that would lead to problems later.

"Well, there's a meteor shower coming down, it appears that Luthor's little manipulations with the Earth's core has put us in the path for something really dangerous," Helena confirmed, saying what they all dreaded.

Hopeless was not in Harry Potter's vocabulary but at the same time, he was considering doing a revision. That being said, he wasn't completely and utterly cooked yet. Not if there was breath in his body.

"How long?" Harry asked calmly, not taking his eyes off of the paper that he made a few more crisp and delicate sketches on.

'_So close,' _Harry thought, but he missed something he had a feeling.

Helena swallowed the lump in her throat, Harry and Karen were taken aback by how uncharacteristically nervous she seemed.

"Eight hours," Helena said, checking and double checking things, but she confirmed things with a nod. "Eight hours, maybe less."

"Wonderful," Harry said, completely dead pan.

"We survived the meteor showers in Smallville, and half of the planet might as well have come down on that one town with the amount of Kryptonite that rained from the sky," Patricia said but Helena calmly pushed the data from the STARR observatory underneath her face. She whistled in response when she looked at it. "So…..that's a no go."

"Either the meteors utterly crush us, or the Earth burns into a ball of death," Helena said and she offered this voice in a real matter of fact sort of way.

"Or both at the same time, I'm sure that they're not picky," Harry said and he sighed, causing the pencil in his hand to reduce to dust when he snapped it.

"So, that's a no go, isn't it?" Karen asked, now being the one to sooth Harry, returning the favor from earlier.

"That….is a no go," Harry agreed with her, he was trying to keep on the bright side of life but from where he stood, things were beyond doomsday.

"Even if we did create something to ease the Earth's core, we're not stopping this meteor shower," Helena said and Karen sighed.

"Tell me something that I don't already know," Karen answered and she leaned her head down onto Harry's shoulder, resting it upon it.

"We might not be able to save the world, but we can save ourselves," Patricia said once again, voicing an alternative and she got three sets of eyes on her.

"We…are you saying that we should abandon this world to its fate?" Karen asked. She wasn't complaining, but it made her second guess what she was able to do.

Or rather what she was unable to do.

"Eight hours Kara, eight hours, do you think that some magical solution is going to fall from the sky in eight hours?" Patricia asked and it might have seemed mean, but it was the truth.

"Seems unlikely," Helena muttered, insulted that she could not figure out a plan. She almost could see her father rolling over in his grave out of the corner of her eye.

"I….."

Karen flashed back to Krypton, the eight hours before the planet was destroyed. She was on a ship on her way to Earth by the time that the planet exploded.

"Eight hours, we still have eight hours."

"Maybe less," Helena reminded, she was thinking of what Patricia said. The inevitable was true, they needed to hold on for what was important. "We need to move quickly, get all of the assets together that we can."

All three of them had some liquid assets on hand that weren't in a bank, it was a sufficient amount, and there was equipment that they could use.

"We could hide in the cave, it's outside of the pull of the universe, this universe," Harry said but Patricia turned to him, frowning.

"Yes, that might work, I agree," Patricia said but she decided to offer him an alternative. "There's another thing that we could do."

The redhead already was on her way towards a vault. She made rather quick and careful strides towards there and Karen looked towards her, one eyebrow raised. The blonde had a savvy idea what she was after.

"Is that….."

"Yes, yes, it is," Patricia answered with a smile on her face, and she removed the glowing blue crystal from the vault, careful not to touch it directly with her hands and even more careful not to drop it.

If she dropped it, well they wouldn't have to worry about a meteor shower or the Earth's core exploding or the sun going super nova.

"This was what they were after, you know those meteor mutants a few months ago?" Patricia told Harry and he nodded, he did recall.

He took care of them, and made sure that they could never hurt anyone again.

"So, how's the crystal going to help us?" Karen asked, but slowly it dawned….surely not.

"STARR Lab's interdimensional portal device," Patricia said once again and Karen looked at her, surprised, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"Wait….you got it done, you got it working?" Karen asked, she figured that might be the case, but she wasn't sure.

"What, do you think I've been sitting up in my office all day, playing mine sweeper?" Patricia asked her and Karen looked kind of sheepish. The redhead continued to hit her stride moving forward. "But yes, I've got it working, at least that I think that I do."

"Oh, you think that you've got it working?" Harry asked. Perhaps it was just from experience but this was foreboding.

"Well, it's not like it's something that we can test, as the only source of power on Earth…well I'm holding the only source on power on Earth that could power a portal like that," Patricia said, cradling the crystal like a treasure. "Just think about it, we can get out of here…I know that you want to save them all, all of them."

"Yes, we do, but…." Karen said but she trailed off. Talk about being in your hopeless situation. "Not plausible, I know."

The world might be beyond saving, hell the power grid in this building might fail because of the increasing sun spots. And what would happen first?

The world burns up or the meteors cause the Earth to be reduced into ash as it impacts it. Either way, they were kind of fucked.

"But, a portal like that….."

"It was based off of some Kryptonian technology that they left lying around, and…..my father helped modify it and worked on it up until his death, and I finished it afterwards, I thought that it might be a good monument for his legacy," Patricia said in an excited voice, never taking a breath.

"You're certain that it functions right," Harry said and Patricia nodded. "That's good enough for me."

"Yeah good enough for me," Karen said, not liking that she had to just duck and run, but she had said goodbye to one world already, so she would have to say goodbye to another world right here and now.

"Yeah, that's good enough for me as well," Helena said firmly.

"So, if you have any liquid assets on hand or anything that you need, tell me right away, and I'll get them for you," Harry said once again and Helena, Karen, and Patricia looked at each other. "Do any of you want to start again from square one?"

"No, I can see your point," Helena said, knowing that Harry spoke from experience.

They prepared to give Harry an inventory, a list of everything that they needed to get for their trip. It had to be done quickly.

Karen, Patricia, and Helena prepared to head up to the lab to fire up the portal and Harry looked at all three of them.

"I'll be back in two hours," Harry said, seeing the meteors on the satellite cameras on approach to the Earth and really hoping that they didn't cause any trouble with any kind of inter-dimensional travel.

He really hoped not, but you never knew in circumstances like this. No time to wait, Harry moved at the speed of light to collect everything that they needed for their trip.

* * *

"So this is it, this is now or never," Harry told them once again and Patricia, Karen, and Helena all had fixed looks of determination on their faces. "Are we all in, or are we not?"

"Yeah, we're in, for what it's worth," Karen said but she decided that there were sometimes where things were out of her control and this was one of those times.

"We've got everything that we need to start setting on a new world, although a lot of our groundwork has been lost, but that's unavoidable," Helena said and Harry nodded.

All of the computer systems in the world were baked, so any money that went into bank accounts was lost forever. It was the liquid assets that were on hand that they had, and Harry knew better to shove his money in a bank completely one hundred percent.

Let's just say that he had some bad experiences and leave it at that.

"There are a multitude of Earth's throughout the entire universe, but we have to wait to find one where the interdimensional matrix lines on," Karen said once again and she typed in some coordinates. "Or in laymen's terms, we have to find an Earth that we can safely portal to, without causing the dimensional barriers to collapse and a cataclysmic event to occur on multiple worlds."

"That sounds reasonable," Harry said, after his previous encounters with inter-dimensional travel, he was not really looking forward to it. It was not a preferred method to travel, with any of the overtly stupid magical inventions such as Portkey or the Floo being beneath his mental list.

"So, what should we expect when we go through the portal?" Helena asked Harry, and he nodded, that might be a reasonable question.

"Well with any luck, we should come out on the other end of the portal once again, and be on the new Earth, safe and sound and in one piece," Harry said without missing a beat and without catching his breath.

"That is the most ideal situation, yes," Karen agreed once again, but somehow she decided that might not go as planned. "But….if something goes wrong….."

"Yes, I hate to think about that, but she does have a point," Harry said, addressing Helena and Patricia in particular. "If we don't time this completely right…..we could get sucked into dimensional oblivion when we pass through the gateway."

"Well don't sugarcoat it Harry," Karen said and Patricia was walking up against the gateway, putting the crystal in to help fire up the gateway.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that it will be fine," Patricia told them all and Harry smiled.

"Not worrying, just speaking from experience that's what could happen," Harry told her..

"You have some really worrying experiences some time," Karen once again said, brushing the hair out of her eyes, but she watched the portal fire up, ready to go.

"Will take five minutes to fire up, so I guess that it's good bye to the world," Patricia said but she had one final bombshell to drop on them. "Someone is going to have to navigate the portal to make sure we get through to the coordinates safely."

"I'll do it," Harry said without missing a beat and Karen and Helena looked at each other apprehensively; they had some severe misgivings about this, and also the fact that something could be off about this portal.

"Harry, while I appreciate the concern, I think that I can handle this portal, my father gave me directions on how to best use it….." Patricia said and Harry turned towards her, giving her a nervous glare.

"You mean that I wouldn't know how to use it," Harry said to her and Patricia looked at him, arms folded with a strong resolve on her face.

"Well it isn't like you wouldn't how to use it, it's just that…..I would know how to use it better and to control what happens when I put you through," Patricia said, not wanting to sound critical of Harry.

"There's something that you're not telling us, aren't you?" Karen asked once again and Patricia's eyes didn't meet her's right away.

Harry didn't miss this at all. "Well….."

"The crystal might only be able to power the portal for twenty minutes, and that's just enough time for three of us to get through, based on the time-space matrix, so you better go," Patricia said with a smile, evading the question once again.

"So what…three…."

"You know, you just better go, I'm pretty sure that I can get through, but the three of you, you're better equipped to defend yourself if something goes wrong," Patricia said, and she looked like she wasn't going to budge and they had no time to argue. "I'll be right behind you."

'_I guess that we're in for it….' _Harry thought and his wives both nodded in agreement.

"So, let's go," Helena said and she was the first one to pass through the portal and did so safely.

Karen reluctantly followed behind her next at Harry's urging. This left Harry and Patricia alone in the room.

"Through it, I'm right behind you," she told him.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Harry asked her and Patricia clenched her fist together once again and she got up on her tip toes so she could look him straight to the eyes.

"Trust me when I say, it will work out for the best, trust me, okay, do you trust me?" Patricia asked her once again, and Harry smiled at her once again, when she preceded to nudge him, to encourage him to go through the portal.

"I trust you absolutely, and…..you're going to come in right behind me, right?" Harry asked and she nodded. She frantically pointed towards the portal, nervously eying the crystal.

Harry had no choice, but to leave now. He slipped through the portal and followed the same path that Karen and Helena did.

Patricia slipped through the portal next, with the lights in the building flashing. The back up power slowly kicked up and she threw herself head on.

Just seconds after she passed through the portal, the power in the building went completely dead, and Metropolis was on fire. Large meteors impacted into the city, increasing the heat of the planet to boiling temperatures.

On the other side, Harry dropped down to the ground, it seemed like his luck with transport had held on true once again. He nearly fell over onto his face, but he managed to keep himself steady.

Karen and Helena were on the ground right there, looking a little worse for wear but both of them were in one piece.

"So, we have all of our limbs intact? Harry asked and both of them nodded once again, their arms folded over.

The portal remained open for a little bit above their heads.

"Did Patricia come right behind you?" Karen asked him and Harry nodded.

She should be going through right now, and Karen made a step forward to check but Harry grabbed her by the arm, holding her back as he shook his head.

"No, trust me, you don't want to get trapped in inter-dimensional limbo," Harry told her firmly and she nodded in response.

Still time, he waited for the other party to make her way through the portal, passing on through but he paused and he waited once again.

There was nothing that came out of the portal right there once again.

"Patricia," Karen called but there was no answer. She called her once again. "PATRICIA!"

Much to her horror, the portal closed, and there was no Patricia behind them.

"I told her to go first," Harry said to them and once again he clutched his fists together.

"There's still hope, she might have not gotten here, but she might have ended up elsewhere," Helena said to them.

"We better go, see if she popped up somewhere else in the city," Harry said, and they most certainly could not stick around here, because it would lead to some questions.

Hopefully she was sent elsewhere in the world that was the best case scenario. Or she arrived her a little bit before them despite leaving after. Or that she got transported further on in time.

Harry didn't want to think of any of the worst case scenarios and they were numerous to be honest.

**To Be Continued on September 2nd 2014. **

* * *

**So return of Director's Notes, kind of, although they're tacked on at the end of the chapter now, and only there if I need to say something. And if I don't need to say something, well I won't, now will I?**

**Failure is inevitable. **

**That's really what I was thinking when writing this chapter. You know that no matter what, Peter Parker isn't going to stop the burglar and Uncle Ben is going to get killed. You know that Bruce Wayne's parents are going to get shot. You know that no one is going to listen to Jor-El and Krypton is going to go boom. **

**Earth-Two, Karen/Helena Earth, had to be destroyed, to get everyone onto one Earth, that being Earth-One. **

**Here's something entirely funny, the last thirteen chapters you read, they weren't supposed to happen. We were going to start "bam, Vegas marriage", and things progressed from there. And it wasn't going to be with these two, Helena and Karen were already going to be already married to Harry, and we begin there. **

**But, I decided not to go there, instead I went here. **

**That being said, I think this might actually have been worse in a way, from the standpoint that I build up this world, only to nuke it. I mean, the Harry Potter world in this universe…we've only been given vague generalizations, and that's about all that you're going to get. In the end, it doesn't matter. **

**In reality, this has the feel of a Season finale, and it kind of is. Granted, there will be times where we're going to take short little breaks after what I feel are key storylines, but the first thirty five chapters is going to be pretty much straight through.**

**Then we break in mid-November and return in January. Just thought I'd give you a head's up there.**

**Another thing that I batted back and forth in my head was removing Harry's powers completely, as opposed to partially. Granted, he was going to get them back due to something that happens down the road, but it would be a journey. **

**And I did a similar journey in the original trilogy, where his powers slowly built up, and everyone jumped down my throat (well not everyone, a handful of people), and said that he was too weak. Despite the fact that he technically was more powerful than canon, but yeah…..we're not going to go into the entire power argument again. Because it makes me want to bash my head into a keyboard. **

**I've rambled too far enough, we're continuing on forward starting next Tuesday with another set of chapters, which I suppose the second part could span from 14-27, or roughly there about.**


	14. In Another World

It was difficult to leave behind pretty much everything that you knew, especially when you knew that there was going to be no turning back no. You pretty much had to start from scratch, from the ground up, and that took a special kind of person.

Harry Potter did it once, and he did it again, and to be honest, the first world that he left behind, he did so with pretty much no regrets. It astounded him how a lot of the people from the hidden community that he lived to manage to remember how to breathe without constant instruction.

The problem was that Harry had a lot of holes in his memory regarding that world, but he thought that it was for the best.

He was rather fuzzy on a lot of the details, but he managed to take down the person that killed his parents and then it was off, when they decided to make him the scapegoat for the fact that a bunch of so called respectable purebloods dropped dead, mostly because they were hardwired into his enemy's nervous system.

The chain reaction would have killed more and Harry knew that there was only one way to reverse the curse and that was to send him to another place, breaking the one final last link that madman had to that realm.

But that was then, and this was now, leaving the world that he left this time was much harder because he had a lot of people there that he liked, but naturally two of the people who he was closest enough would make things bearable.

"So, we're here," Karen said, much like Harry, she had been through this game once before. They made their way to a modest looking apartment in Metropolis.

"We need to find a place to set up until we can move forward," Helena said, she had not lost everything like these two had. She was not used to that, but she adapted to things rather easily.

"We need to find Patricia, she could have gone somewhere, anywhere," Karen said once again and Harry held her hand, understanding her pain.

"There's no sign of her…"

"Yes, that's the problem, isn't it, and hopefully she just arrived a bit before us, and she might be waiting for us, or maybe a bit after us and we'll find her," Harry said once again and Helena lifted up one of the tracking devices to continue the search the old fashioned way.

"There's no sign that she got through, but there's no sign that she didn't get through either," Helena said and once again Karen had to lift her hand and ram it into her face over and over again.

"Wonderful, paradox, just wonderful," Karen said. She hated these time travel paradoxes because they only proved to give her a headache.

That being said, as they found out the hard way, they couldn't stay here. It was a wonder that they had managed to drop down without causing too much of a ruckus.

Harry remembered when he went from Point A to Point B, as it all came back to him that he ended up in an abandoned office building, because that hidden community didn't exist. Therefore a mundane, normal office building existed in its place.

"We need a place to stay, we need money….. we have enough of that to get by for a few months, but we need more," Helena said and Harry nodded.

"Right, we need identification….. that shouldn't be too much of a problem, with a little slight of hand, and knowing the right people who won't ask too many questions," Harry told them.

"But your education, it's just gone… could you get that back, or are you pushing that too much?" Karen asked him once again and Harry pressed his hand underneath his jaw once again and closed his eyes.

He took a couple of minutes to mull it over in his mind.

"That will be painful, all of the work I had to do to do my doctorate….. but that's pushing past the limits what my limited amount of magic can do," Harry said to them and Helena offered a surprisingly optimistic statement.

"If you can do it before, you can do it again, and this time you can do it better," Helena told both of them and Karen and Harry nodded in agreement.

"And if I know Harry, he's going to do it better, no question about it," Karen said and Harry smiled once again, but he really wished that they did not have to make such an abrupt escape.

On the bright side, Harry had a lot more than he did after the last time he was here, which was the reason why he didn't trust banks at all. There were just too many problems with them, but that being said, he looked at the apartment sitting there.

'_I really hate to take such a magical person approach about personal boundaries, but no one is living there, so it won't do any harm if we stay here for a couple of days,' _Harry thought, flipping over various responses and ideas in his mind.

'_I'm guessing that's our place, the one that we're going to stay,' _Karen thought once again.

'_Yes, if you want it to be,' _Harry told her and she smiled, looking it over.

'_Not bad, reminds me kind of my old apartment,' _Karen said and Helena nudged her with a smile.

'_That's because it is your old apartment, well not technically your old apartment, but….. it's in the same place if you really look at things,' _Helena thought.

'_This universe might just be a near carbon copy of the last one… except for STARR, that isn't there,' _Karen thought, and she was certain that there were other differences.

'_But a big old abandoned building that we can rebuild it is,' _Harry thought, he considered a few things for the future. The possibilities were endless and he prepared for them.

'_All we need to take….. well, some things never change,' _Karen said, her eyes averting to the LuthorCorp building that was in the middle of Metropolis….. but she paused.

'_It hasn't been moved to another area, has it?' _Harry asked once again and Karen shook her head.

'_Then it's the old LuthorCorp, where he moved into the bigger one…. right after he took over from his father,' _Karen thought, and it did give them a general timetable of where they stood.

'_So, is this some kind of alternate universe where Lionel Luthor never died in an accident?' _Helena slowly suggested.

'_Maybe he discovered birth control before Lex was born,' _Karen thought and both of her spouses gave her a rather curious look. _'What? I'm just saying!'_

'_I know, I know,' _Harry said, patting her on her shoulder once again and Karen let her breath out in a long sigh.

The door was locked, but Helena already had a method to open the door.

X-X-X

"Well, it will do for now," Karen said with a smile. Then again, as Helena said, this was just like her old apartment, which was her home away from home from the Swann estate, which she would miss.

She got all of the data on the various Kryptonian artifacts, the one that they couldn't liberate, with any luck; they might be able to find them again. Providing if they existed that was.

"It will have to do until we find a way to reestablish ourselves in this world," Harry said and he waited. "Helena was going to snoop around, see if she could find a newspaper, because that's the best way to find out what's been going on here."

"There is also the Internet," Karen said in a half teasing manner to her husband and Harry slowly turned towards her.

"There is the Internet, providing we'd have a connection to it," Harry told her and Karen crossed her arms over her chest, looking a bit huffy but nevertheless, pressed on despite the problems.

"So, I've got to ask the obvious question…"

"Are there other versions of us in this world?" Harry asked her and Karen opened her mouth. She pouted when Harry stole the question out of her mouth.

"Well, yeah but…"

"I don't know, this world seems similar enough to the world that we left on the surface, but at the same time, it might be very different, the universe could have the same coat of paint, but the mechanics that are going on the inside, they'd be slightly different," Harry said and once again Karen smiled at him.

"Makes…. sense," Karen said, not sure what she was going to say, but she was kind of caught off guard.

Helena returned once again, carrying a newspaper clipping in her hand.

"Couldn't find a newspaper, but I found this clipping left out in the hallway…. it's about my father, and it was from the last week, he's still alive in this universe," Helena said. She parked herself down next to Harry.

"So, that could potentially answer the question of whether or not that there's a younger version of…."

"My father didn't settle down until he was well into his thirties with my mother," Helena told them and Harry nodded. "And by settling down….. he only went out for half of the night to patrol as opposed to the full night, at least half of the time."

"And the other half of the time?" Karen asked and Helena smirked.

"Business as usual," Helena told her and Karen whistled rather calmly and shifted her arms underneath her breasts. "The fact is….. he's around my age at this point, so he's just returning from his tour around the world."

"That doesn't mean anything though," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"No, it doesn't," Helena agreed, wondering what Karen was smiling about. "But if we hear rumors that there is a mysterious vigilante patrolling around Gotham City, then we'll know."

"Well, that would pretty much confirm things, won't you….. I could still be in the Dam right now, maybe we should go check?" Karen asked and Harry also leaned in to hear her response. "I didn't come to Earth until almost three years ago from my perspective so…."

"Yes, we'll check, but we'll do so in the morning," Harry offered swiftly; he had a few things that he had to take care of and naturally he needed to get them identification and get them enrolled, so they could begin to set their business back up from the ground up.

And there was also the Luthor thing, Harry wasn't going to let them go unwatched, but it appeared that Luthor Senior was still in charge. Whether or not that was much better, that much would be up for debate.

"So, I might have a younger self here somewhere, Helena likely doesn't….. what about you?" Karen asked her.

Harry shrugged, he didn't really want to deal with a younger version of himself, or, more likely, he didn't want to deal with all of the baggage that came along with dealing with a younger version of himself.

That being said, he would feel a lot better about this when he figured out where everything lied.

"He crossed dimensional barriers, to a world where he didn't exist, didn't he?" Helena asked, pushing the ball back into Harry's hands.

"So many variables that I'm not going to even piece together, we'll worry about the one person who could potentially exist here, and then we could worry about the fact that a counterpart may or may not exist here," Harry said, he did not necessarily put it off. "But as for your father, well his nocturnal activities might be the same, or he might have decided to be a Chimney Sweep."

Karen could not help but spit out the drink that she was drinking at the table. "A Chimney Sweep, excuse me?"

"Well, you never know," Helena added, but she somehow doubted it. Unless her father was lucky not to have his parents shot before his very eyes at the age of eight, which it was looking depressingly like it was the case. It wouldn't be Bruce Wayne if he didn't have any life that was colored with tragedy after all.

"We're going to get enrolled and ready to go, find a more permanent base, and find a way to get some money flowing in," Harry said with a smile.

There was a list of treasures that he might be able to look up for some added money, if they were in the same place they were. But this new world could have new treasures, he'd worry about that when he worried about that.

X-X-X

"Okay, I'm going to have to give this costume up as a lost cause," Karen said, looking at her Supergirl costume and sighing. She felt extremely nostalgic. "Granted, it's a name and a costume that I outgrew about a year ago, but still, I guess I was holding onto it, because I was being sentimental."

"Brand new world, you can start anew," Harry said, his key still worked and they were moving things into the Lair, which transcended dimensions. He tested going in first to make sure he wasn't going to go out in the old universe, because going back to what the Earth was before, that would be kind of bad.

"I know, you've got the identification papers, right?" Karen asked him and Harry smiled and slapped them into the palm of her hand so she could see them.

She looked them over, Harry looked over her, as she looked over his work, but the blonde did not seem to be complaining too much when she did this.

"Nice, very, nice," she said with a smile and Helena joined them seconds later.

"Registered us to school, same classes….. well for Karen, Harry and I are going to have to start college all over again," Helena informed them. She didn't really seem too bothered with it, because like Harry, she saw it as a challenge to start all over again. "It's going to be weird not being responsible for a major company…"

"Well, you're not responsible for a major company yet, but when we gain our footing here, we should be set up, in the meantime…. we've got a modest little apartment in Metropolis, we've got the Lair here, pretty soon we'll be able to buy where the STARR labs were supposed to be in this world, although, we're going to have to act quickly," Harry said and Karen raised her eyebrow.

"This is new news to me, what's happening?" Karen asked him and Harry was only too happy to enlighten her on the latest news.

"Luthor Senior is looking to build a new LuthorCorp facility there…"

"LuthorCorp can't go where STARR Labs should be, that's…. that's just…. that just shouldn't happen."

Karen crossed her arms together and she gave a prominent scowl in response, much to the amusement of Harry and Helena.

"Calm down, you know that I'm not going to let anyone with the name Luthor get his mitts on anything that is rightfully ours….."

"What about SLO?" Helena asked and Harry smiled. "Did you check to…"

"Yes, I did, and I also have that on my list of things to buy up, I did like my old office, on the corner, it overlooked the rest of the city you see," Harry said and both of them smiled once again. "So classes start tomorrow, and we'll be back to….. well, we'll have plenty to do to keep our minds off of the fact that we're in a brand new world."

"We rebuild, once again."

Karen hated to have to do this, and they had been here for a few days, but there was no sign of the fourth member of their party. She started to get extremely agitated by her inability to locate Patricia.

"So, I looked around the area of the dam," Helena said and Karen looked at her.

"You did…. what did you find…"

"Nothing of any value, not even any meteor rocks, which makes me think that if there is another you here, they got here in a different way," Helena said and she shook her head. "I did find some information about something interesting when I went into Smallville though."

Karen was despondent about this news, but what her sister wife said snapped her back into reality. "So, is this the best type of interesting that makes you want to cheer, or the bad type of interesting that makes you want to….."

"Well, you be the judge," Helena said, handing Karen all of the press cuttings.

The news article of "Blur saves dozens from collapsing bridge." stuck out right in front of her. Then other news articles were that Blur saves people from a burning building, and Blur saves journalist from terrorists was also printed once again.

"The most reliable eyewitness accounts state that the Blur is a female between the ages of nineteen and twenty two," Karen read looking over one of the articles and she blinked. This caught her completely off guard. "Huh."

"Do you think that it might be you?" Harry asked her.

"Maybe," Karen said. She thought that she would go for something a little bit more public and dramatic but then again, that was just her to be honest. "I'm sure that if we're around Metropolis, we might run into this Blur sometime."

"She does seem to be keeping one step ahead, whoever she is," Helena said once again and Harry smiled, looking at the screen.

"Well, that's useful information, but not nearly as useful as what I just found out about LuthorCorp, seems to be me like there's more than a few changes," Harry said, bringing up the information on the information on the screen.

Karen stepped forward and looked at the information on the screen, letting out an impressive whistle when she saw what was in front of her.

"So, I see," she whispered intensely focusing her gaze on the screen sharply and Harry smiled, but he didn't really completely turn back towards her.

"Yes, you do see," Harry agreed with her, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes. That could change the dynamic of everything.

"But it doesn't matter, we have a big day tomorrow, and the sooner we can get our degrees back the better."

"I almost got my first one," Karen said in despair and Harry got up, leaning forward, and stroked his wife on the cheek.

"I know, I know," Harry said to her, he couldn't avoid making the trip to Great Britain for too much longer, to check up to see if he existed in some form or another. But first, some research.

He programmed the computer to do the necessary research, which he would check back on after his classes tomorrow.

"That kind of takes all the fun out of it, don't you think?" Helena asked him.

"I don't rely on it for everything, but when time is of the essence, we have to cut corners," Harry said and there was also their mystery Blur, but one thing at a time.

X-X-X

"So I've finally got some good news for a change," Harry told both of his wives the next day after the tests had come back.

"Really, it's about time," Karen said, she hated having been pushed in such a depressed state, because she had always looked on the brighter side of light.

"Last time I crossed dimensions….. well, let's just say that my abilities were limited to the point where I couldn't use any of my powers for about six months or so," Harry said and both of them nodded, they recalled him explaining this to them. "And they've been slowly building up to the point where it was at with my first maturity…"

Harry made sure that they were following it and both of them nodded. He was glad that they were on the path to understanding where he was coming from.

"It wasn't the universal jump that did it last time, it was the means of how I got over there," Harry said and Helena hung on every word that he said. "Which makes a lot of sense considering how I got here….. it killed pretty much every single person that passed through it."

"And why did you think that was a good idea?" Karen asked and Harry shrugged, looking very nonchalant.

"Desperate times call for desperate actions," Harry told her once again and the blond eyed him anxiously.

Helena kept her eyes on Harry's and gave him a slight shake of her head. "Exactly how desperate were you?"

"Very," Harry said in complete dead pan before he completely moved forward on the subject. "That being said, my powers were exactly what they were when I measured them a week before I left. So they didn't bounce back down."

"But they didn't go up either?" Karen asked.

"I'm waiting to see what happens on my twenty first birthday, because there's a third maturity that's there, after fourteen and seventeen being the first two," Harry said with a smile. "Some get an initial maturity at the age of eleven, so they have four….."

"Were you one of the fortunate ones?" Helena asked and Harry smiled.

"You know, given the circumstances of my childhood, I never really figured out how that worked."

His magic was half used to protect relatives who wouldn't spit on him if he was on fire. And the problem was that it wasn't quite done with malicious actions, but rather, it was done because the person who did it was senile.

Given that he ended up getting killed by a polyjuiced double of an old friend that he couldn't figure out was a fake, Harry didn't really bother thinking about him. All of the questions that left unanswered even to the grave, along with no answers.

"Not to abort this trip down memory lane, but you were doing something else aren't you?" Karen reminded him.

Harry did remember once again and he was searching all over the globe for any teleportation tracks. The ones that would have been done from a machine and inter-dimensional type as well.

"Patricia hasn't shown up yet," Harry said and Karen looked at him, with him, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into an embrace.

"Start with the bad news…"

"But that doesn't mean that she can't arrive here just yet," Harry chimed in, cutting off Karen's protests with a finger on her lips and the blonde blinked. "I was looking at how we entered this dimension and it was very strange."

"It says here that we hit a temporal flux when we tried to go through….. thus we arrived on an alternate Earth and in the past as well," Helena said and Harry smiled in response.

"Exactly," Harry said, the plot thickened and it should prove to be interesting to see what other surprises they found when time went on.

"So, if we got bounced off everywhere, then….. well that doesn't really make any sense, does it?" Karen asked and Harry turned towards her, asking her why that didn't make any sense. "I mean, Patricia, she was right behind us…"

"I might have the answer to that as well," Harry told them. "The meteors were due to hit around the time we left, so they might have started to rain down after they got through the portal."

"So, they started to rain down and they knocked the portal off balance, that's just great," Karen said with a long sigh and a scowl to match. She really wished that she could find where she was, and she was taking it as an insult.

"As you know, time-space travel is kind of tricky."

Harry once again did not need tell her, but he really wanted to drive home the point. He did also remember how Patricia said that there was a chance that only three people could be safely sent through once again.

"Yes, we've figured that out right away," Helena said.

Harry didn't want to deal with all of the worst case scenarios. She might still be traveling through the inter-dimensional field and would end up here in a few months, he hoped so.

Hope was something that he held, but it was more likely that she had ended up on the other side on another universe. He really hoped that wasn't the case, but it was very likely.

Or she transported a thousand years into the past or a thousand years into the future.

"So did you find the other you?" Karen asked once again. "If the other you exists…"

Harry wondered when that was coming up and he held the data once again before him. This proved to be an interesting opportunity.

"Yes, but….. well things could get interesting," Harry told her and Karen corked her eyebrow at him once again.

"How interesting?" Karen asked him and Harry placed the document right out underneath her nose.

Both read it and both had to agree that things would get interesting really soon.

X-X-X

Harry really hoped to never be in this awful, wretched place again, and it still gave him the creeps. He arrived at Number Four Privet Drive and took a step up the drive. It unsettled him greatly the closer he approached.

The perfectly mowed lawn gave him a sense of the creeps, there wasn't a weed in sight, the house looked clean and even. Every house looked at the same, every yard looked the same, and pretty much everything looked the same.

It was early in the evening and Harry thought about wearing the most outlandish clothes possible, but he decided that he wouldn't meet the scene.

The monitoring spells that was on the barrier of the neighborhood were obvious, but they had a flaw. They only set the alarm off when someone magically popped in and tried to harm the people who were in the house.

Harry gave a lengthy sigh once again and he reached forward, knocking at the door once again. He knew that this had the potential to get extremely ugly when he opened that door.

Ideally, he would have liked to get out of this without bloodshed, because he detested cleaning up. That was really dependent on how lippy the Dursleys got and how much they cooperated with them.

Harry wanted to deal with them the least amount possible.

There was the sound of footsteps and the door opened up. He came face to face with Petunia Dursley, who staggered back.

She saw a carbon copy of James Potter, with Lily's eyes, and that was terrifying. She opened her mouth to scream.

Harry placed his hand over her mouth.

"Don't be a drama queen," Harry whispered her and he removed his hand from her mouth slowly when it was obvious that she wouldn't scream. "You are the legal guardian of Alexandra Lily Potter, are you not?"

Petunia looked at him with thinly veiled contempt flashing through her eyes. That being said, she gave him a rough nod in response.

"It wasn't by choice, I can tell you that much," Petunia said, or rather she practically spat once again at him. "He seems to think that he can just… you do realize that…. just who are you anyway?"

Petunia looked extremely flustered once again.

"Someone that may make your life just a little bit easier, if you allow me to," Harry replied to her and Petunia looked back up at him, very intrigued with what he was saying. "All you have to do is sign this, and you don't have to worry about them again…"

"You do realize that he'll have his ways of finding out, because…" Petunia said once again.

"Is your husband home?" Harry asked and she shook her head.

"No…. he's not…. he's off on business, he won't be back until the end of the week," Petunia stammered when she looked around all paranoid. "You know, we didn't have any choice in the matter."

"Yes, I realize that, but you should have treated her better," Harry said and she cringed.

"I look back at her, and you know what I see?" Petunia hissed at him, but she relaxed her attitude when she saw this young man's glare back at her.

If looks could kill, she'd be deader than dead.

"You see your sister and the fact that you could never measure up to her, it's time to let go of your teenage jealous and grow a spine, Petunia," Harry told her and the woman blinked at him once again. "Trust me, I can make this easier for you or I can make this harder for you, the choice is yours. The real question is what do you want to do?"

"Give me the paper, and I'll sign it," Petunia replied in response. "I'll sign everything….. her powers….. I've never seen anything like it… it's just not natural."

"There are a lot of things out that there aren't natural but they are, and locking your own niece in a cupboard underneath the stairs is one of them," Harry said and Petunia blanched.

"Cupboard…..we didn't…..we just keep her in her room….it's small but it's not a bloody cupboard," Petunia said rather heated tone. "Where did you….."

"Sign this, and your troubles will be done, and you'll be done with that world?" Harry asked.

Petunia wondered where he was getting his information.

"What world?" Petunia asked once again.

"Your sister Lily, she was a witch, wasn't she?" Harry asked her.

"You know, I might not have gotten along with my sister, but I'm going to have to insist that you don't call her names," Petunia said in a fairly heated voice.

"Things are a bit different then I thought then," Harry said, but he had a sense that Petunia lied about some things. He couldn't be bothered by that, rather he had a couple of surprises that he should lie for anyone who came calling.

"My sister, she was adopted by my parents, she met some government agent named Potter… they worked in some British intelligence, top secret, so obviously I didn't know, their boss was some guy named Dumbledore," Petunia said to him and she cringed. "He could have been one of those…. people you referred to for all I know….."

"I see," Harry answered once again, things were different.

"Some of them had extraordinary powers….. Lily was infected by the meteors that rained down when ten years old, her immune system was all out of whack," Petunia said, wondering why she was volunteering all of this information. "And….."

"Just tell me where your niece is….."

"She has the same powers that Lily does, she can move things with her mind, I can't deal with it, Dumbledore put her here….. I think he might have died, he was pretty old, older than dirt," Petunia said and when she realized her babbling got ignored she pressed on. "I'm sure that you can handle it um, whoever you are."

"My name is Harry Potter."

"Potter, just like the one that Lily married, but you have her eyes," Petunia said, she wondered what was going on, but at the same time, she didn't want to know.

"Sign here, and I'll deal with the rest, trust me…"

"She's upstairs," Petunia said, wondering if he had thought the worst of what happened.

It was a good thing that Vernon wasn't here, because it might have ended badly for him.

"Alexandra, you have a visitor," Petunia said, and she knocked on the door, where it opened on its own accord.

There was a seven year old girl in the middle of the room and she looked up at him.

"This is Harry, he'll take you away to let you understand what's happening to you."

"It's because I'm a freak, isn't it?" she asked.

"No, not at all, I'll explain," Harry said once again, and he held the package out to Petunia. She took it with a question in her eyes. "If Dumbledore ever calls upon, give him this, and I'll need your signature here to make this binding."

Harry tucked the young girl underneath his arm, she was wide eyed and wanting anything to get out of here, knowing that any place had to be better.

"Where are we going?" she asked him.

Harry smiled at his younger, but female counterpart who looked hopeful despite of the indifference she lived with. "Home."

Petunia didn't want to tell Harry that Vernon didn't go away on business; he died because he tried to kill Alexandra because of her freakish abilities. The nerve endings in Petunia's right hand wouldn't work properly anymore after she got caught in the crossfire.

But something told her that he might have guessed.

**To Be Continued on September 5th, 2014. **

**This chapter is what we like to call a necessary transitional chapter. Might not be the most exciting chapter. **

**So we have Harry and a younger female version of himself as opposed to the female being older. Her arrival will hopefully make sense later. Or at least it will when I figure out where certain plans align. **

**The Harry Potter World doesn't exist, despite a version of Harry Potter existing. Thank God for that. You don't know how much headaches that baggage gave me in the first series. **

**So, people may be guessing that I'm inferring something regarding something, even though I've pretty much made no secret about this happening for some time. Yes, I know, I'm vague, but I kind of don't want to spoil it out hand for the people who haven't picked up by Anvil Sized hints. **

**Next chapter there's a time skip, this just transitions into that. Until then.**


	15. Going Public

**Chapter Fifteen: Going Public.**

* * *

Three years passed since they had jumped to the universe, a few things changed, many things had stayed the same, but there was one thing that could be for sure. Something they all celebrated without a shadow of a doubt.

"We finally caught up to where we were in the original world," Helena said to Harry who nodded in agreement. That was a lot of hard work, even more than he could remember. Granted, the fact that he already did it before, one would think that it would be less tedious. However, because he did it before, he was rather bored by it and it was thus more tedious.

"And I'm….well I've gotten far further then I need to, but still not quite caught up to where I was on Krypton," Karen said once again and Harry wrapped his arm around her, when the young busty blonde, she cut her hair a bit shorter since her time on Earth, wiggled about him. "But I guess a lot of those disciplines are far beyond anything that can be taught here on Earth."

"Well, it's to the point where you should be able to teach them," Harry confirmed with a newspaper in his hand and he flipped through the latest news in Metropolis to see what they were talking about. "And our company, business has been booming as well."

Helena and Karen smiled at each other, granted it was different building a company from the ground up then it was taking some established companies and running with them after all of this time but they thought that they did well.

So much had changed since they arrived here, so much had changed. Karen in particular retired the Supergirl name and costume, mostly because it was something that she had outgrown. She supposed it was long overdue, but she didn't deny that she would miss it.

"Business has been booming, and also Power Girl and Huntress are getting established here," Karen said with a smile. "Are you sure that you don't want to run the operation over in Gotham City?"

Helena responded in a stoic expression and there was a look in her bright blue eyes that told Karen to drop the subject once and for all. "I'm doing fine."

"Are you sure?" Karen asked and Harry cleared his throat and nudged her roughly.

'_It's obvious that she doesn't really want anything to do with Gotham City right now, but can you really blame her?' _Harry asked and Karen sighed once again, allowing her chest to raise and fall once again but she blinked once again.

'_No, I really can't blame her at all,' _Karen said once again, shifting against the edge of the seat where she sat. _'Would be the height of awkward?'_

Helena knew that they were having a mental conference without her. The truth was that there were a lot of new heroes that were picking up their base of operations in the world and there were whispers of a certain Urban legend that popped up in Gotham City. It followed the matter they expected.

'_So much for him being a Chimney Sweep,' _Helena, not that she wasn't amused. That being said, she tried to keep her tone back and her amusement to a limited amount.

'_He is in the urban legend, that they don't want to acknowledge exists, but at the same time are hunting because he's a vigilante, isn't he?' _Harry asked and Helena sighed long and hard.

'_Pretty much yes,' _Helena remarked as she shifted her legs. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. She was dressed in standard female business attire, the modest skirt covering her stocking clad legs when she continued to move around.

"But we've got some big projects out, the little Urban renewal project is the top of that list," Karen said in agreement. "Crime isn't that bad in the city, but we can make them think twice."

"Is it nice to have a Mayor that isn't going to hunt you down and brand you as a vigilante?" Harry asked and Karen gave him a sweeping grin, licking her tongue over her lips and she answered honestly.

"Pretty much, yes," Karen said, she enjoyed that very much to be sure, and it was good to be a heroine that was beloved by all. "You haven't really done that much out there though, have you?"

"I told you the reason why," Harry said to her once again, his 21st birthday was in a few months and he wanted to see if his powers came back in a burst or if the trickle effect continued.

They had been coming back slowly at a trickle but really not to the point where he was comfortable with how they were coming. But he honestly enjoyed the challenge of trying to find a way of living his everyday life without using his powers.

Some people really wouldn't get that, but they were the type of people who really didn't get how overly dangerous relying on someone's powers were.

That being said, Harry been down that road far too often, then he was annoying himself beating that into the bed.

"Your new costume is working for you, isn't it?" Harry asked Karen and Karen cupped her hand underneath her chin, nodding eagerly.

"Oh yes, even though….well it works handily as a distraction because most of the criminals I run into happen to be among the male variety," Karen said and Helena turned towards her with a barely suppressed smile.

"You and I both know just as well that costume will be able to distract females as well as males," Helena said with a smile.

"Why, are you speaking from experience?" Karen asked fired back in response.

"Caught me off guard, won't ever happen again," Helena said before she swung the subject back around into another matter, especially after Harry cleared his throat. "But, you're having the big press conference in a week…"

"First of two," Harry confirmed.

"Thought it was three," Karen said and Harry smiled, pulling his wife closer to him. But then she realized. "Oh that's right, the third one….it's only going to be brought out if…..well if you're able to…"

"And you know that I'm able to," Harry said, cutting off Karen's words with a well placed finger to her lip and Helena leaned in, placing her head on Harry's opposite shoulder.

"And you've made more than enough business deals that will open doors."

Harry knew that was true, but he had a meeting right before the press conference.

"We'll head our way over there in a little bit, and you can meet us," Karen suggested and Harry smiled.

"That's fair enough," Harry told her and the blonde gave him a bright grin, leaning into him and meeting his lips with a passionate kiss.

It looked like that there was a lot more to that kiss to come but, Karen knew that she would have to wait for later right now.

That being said the kiss latest long enough for her to be satisfied and that's what matter to her in the end.

Helena waited her turn patiently and needless to say it was more than worth the wait. Harry, seeing how she was worked up, reached forward and wrapped her arms around the young brunette. With one more fluid motion, he yanked her into a searing kiss.

Helena's eyes popped open, with Harry's tongue digging deep into her mouth when he continued to deepen the kiss for her. The dark haired woman could feel the burst of pleasure going through her body and it broke all too soon.

Helena was taken by the hand by Karen, making their way to the elevator, but not before stopping to see someone on her way there. She turned towards the woman who waited with a smile on her face.

"Oh, he'll be out there shortly."

* * *

This was the big launch day and they had to be ready, in fact they had to be more than ready. They had to be prepared for anything. If this launch succeeded, it would launch their company to new heights and beyond. If the launch failed, well there were worst setbacks to be had. They could recover but with all of the hard work down the drain, they didn't want to chance it.

Besides they didn't make decisions that were intended to fail.

An attractive redhead woman made her way up from the elevator, having a pen behind her right ear and carrying a clipboard. She wore her hair tied back in a ponytail and a pair of glasses. A buttoned red blouse covered her generous chest and she wore a tight black blazer top once again and a flowing skirt that covered the area down to just a little bit past her knees. It was modest but at the same time it showed a fair bit of her legs, which were covered with stockings in the most alluring manner.

She adjusted her skirt and made her way into the upstairs area. Lana Lang was there and she was dressed to kill to put things bluntly.

The skirt stayed firmly in place after her adjustment and she was hoping that today's press conference went well. She knew that Harry, Karen, and Helena had been building up for this for years. She met the three of them, she was around studying business administration at Met-U, and she needed a bit of help for some of her other classes.

Enter Harry, who did a wonderful job in putting things in perspective. He was smart and the fact that he wasn't entirely bad on the eyes was an excellent bonus. Lana licked her lips at the thought of him.

Okay she might have a bit of a crush on him but who could really blame her.

She had been working on this, she was just underneath Karen, Helena, and Harry on the RAO Corporation food chain, and she thought that being underneath those three, it wasn't a bad enough place to be.

The redhead's cheeks turned around as red as her hair at the unintentional innuendo of that last statement.

Lana thought about opening her own fashion line but this was her calling as well. Of course, she did help the three of them when they came to her with an interesting proposal, and Lana was willing to help them design something that would help them.

The redhead was let out on a lot of secrets, being Harry's personal assistant, at least officially on the books. That being said, her responsibilities were a lot more, to the fact that Harry joked that his personal assistant needed her own personal assistant.

'_He does have a point sometimes,' _Lana thought, her lips curling into a warm smile.

That being said, she wanted to ensure that she did not interrupt them, because this wouldn't be the first time that she nearly walked into an awkward situation and the redhead blushed a little bit at the thought of it.

She saw Helena and Karen make their way out of the meeting room. For once in their life, their clothes didn't look in all sorts of disarray.

Karen stopped short and spotted Lana. There was a smile on her face.

"Are you here to see Harry?" Karen asked her and Lana nodded in response. The blonde gave her an inviting smile. "Good because he's here to see you right now."

Lana entered the meeting room with Harry once again and one could say that she worshipped him. But she just had a healthy respect for the fact that he was willing to better the lives of people and build things from the ground up, especially after all he lost.

Okay, maybe she had a tiny little crush on him.

"Lana, how are you doing?" Harry asked her and Lana said.

"Good, sir….er I mean Harry," Lana said once again, Harry had gotten on her about calling him sir, because that made him feel so good. And he was her age, so there was no reason to make him feel that old.

"Why don't you sit down, and we can go over things before the press conference one more time?" Harry asked Lana and Lana smiled and did just that, taking the seat next to him on the couch.

"The Red Sun projections are such that they are going to be the highest selling item on opening day in Metropolis, and they might be able to get the profits that we need to make the purchase that we discussed the other day," Lana said, remaining business like and Harry reached over, inadvertently brushing against her thigh, to pick up the paper.

"Wow, that's what they're projecting?" Harry asked. He was impressed by this, all of this, especially the work that Lana did.

"That's the latest reports, yes, Harry," Lana said with a smile.

"We're going to beat their expectations," Harry said and Lana grinned at him.

"You never do anything halfway, do you, Harry?" Lana asked him and Harry smiled at her.

"No….I don't," Harry said, his smile widened. "So, are you handling all of the work that I've heaped on you?"

"I'm doing fine Harry, thanks for asking," Lana said, crossing her legs when she met his green eyes and her cheeks flushed a little bit more. "I know that you talked about getting me my own personal assistant…"

"Well given that you're going to be moving up to the role of COO, you might need one anyway," Harry said and Lana was glad that she wasn't drinking coffee because otherwise she would have sacrificed an entire mouthful to the gods.

"Wait, seriously?" Lana asked and Harry smiled at the wide eyed look dancing in her bright eyes.

"Seriously," Harry told her and he barely could hold back the amusement he had. "But only if you want it, but I figured that since you do pretty much all of the work anyway, I'd give you the job, along with a substantial increase in pay."

Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and Lana shifted, butterflies in her stomach.

"You helped us a lot in that first few months, and beyond that, and well hard work should be rewarded," Harry said to her. "And you made sure to help me with Alex as well, but….."

"Family is family," Lana said with a brief smile on her face. Even if they were like fifth cousins, once removed, and she and Harry were fifth cousins once removed by an entire dimension, family was family. "So, are you ready?"

"Everything's in order ,let's do this," Harry told her and Lana's face barely contained the bright smile she placed on it.

"Yes, let's do it," Lana agreed, she was ready for this. The redhead got up and allowed Harry to lead her out of the door.

* * *

Needless to say the Press Conference for the Red Sun was pure madness, just like Harry suspected that it would be. He about figured as much and it would go on for a long time. It nearly went on well passed an hour.

The RAO Corporation was moving forward with its big time product launch and he was confident that it would do well.

'_So, I think that the press conference went really well,' _Karen thought with a smile once again. _'Miss Lang did well in making sure everything went smoothly without a hitch, didn't she?'_

'_I would have to agree,' _Helena told both of them and Harry smiled once again.

'_I would have to agree as well,' _Harry said and he could see people, members of the press still stirring around once again.

'_We might have to reward her for her hard work,' _Karen said with a smile. She thought about a few ways that she could do that but then again, building up the anticipation worked just as nicely for her.

'_You're plotting aren't you?' _Harry asked her and Karen adopted an expression of innocence, even though it didn't fool anyone for a second.

'_Plotting, I'm not plotting, why would you think that I'm plotting?' _Karen asked in a defensive voice and Harry smiled.

'_I think that you're plotting because you are plotting,' _Harry said, his eyes containing a fairly teasing glint and the blonde in question crossed her arms together, offering a very slight pat once again.

That being said, Harry made his way down the steps.

"I swear…..always runs off when I'm supposed to do a story…..but that's fine…I'll do it….because that's the way that I always do it…ooof."

Harry ran headlong into a woman who was at the foot of the stairs. She looked to be in her early twenties, with dark hair, and violet eyes. She dressed a red jacket, a purple blouse, and a flowing red skirt that stretched down to her knees.

"Sorry, I didn't see you…..oh I almost ran over Harry Fucking Potter," the woman said with a grimace. She forgot her manners ,along with her professionalism when she looked up at this larger than life figure.

"That's okay, you didn't really see where you were going, it happens," Harry told her and she frowned.

"Doesn't change the fact that I feel like I'm two inches tall," she muttered underneath her breath and Harry smiled once again at her. "Lois Lane…"

"You're with the Daily Planet, aren't you?" Harry asked her and Lois nodded intently.

"Yes, I'm with the Daily Planet, how did you ever guess?" Lois asked him and Harry smiled at her once again.

"The press pass kind of clued me in," Harry said and Lois blinked.

"Yeah, that is a dead give away," she admitted, nearly amused and trying very hard not to gaze into his burning green eyes, which were fairly distracting she would have to admit. The dark haired reporter felt her pulse quicken a tiny bit when she stared into those eyes. "So, today was a big launch day, wasn't it?"

"The biggest," Harry said to her with a smile. "I'll be heading out to Vegas tomorrow to do more press work…"

"Big nation wide thing, not in Metropolis, but you know, you're a very hard man to get ahold of Harry….Doctor Potter," Lois said with a smile on her face and Harry grinned at her.

"No need to be formal Miss Lane, Harry will be fine," Harry said, making sure that Lois was back on her feet.

"Right, and it's Lois," she told him, shaking her head once again and she sighed. "So anyway, you're a very hard man to get ahold of and pin down….you know for an interview."

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean, but I only give interviews to the very best, Lois," Harry told her and he smiled at her.

"Oh yeah, right, I can see, there's only so much time in the day," she agreed, and some of the people that she had to interview, she might as well have talked to a wall with paint drying on them. Given that they were so dull and lifeless. If she ever needed a cure from insomnia, she just needed to look back on them.

"I'm guessing that you want an interview, don't you?" Harry asked her and Lois once again blinked and nodded.

"An interview, that'd be nice if I could get one," she told him, but she did not hold out much hope that she could get one.

"Well as I told you, I'm heading off to Vegas for a trip," Harry told her and Lois whistled once again. "But…when I get back, there's an opening in my schedule, where we could work something out."

"Oh….that's great," Lois said but then she stopped short and an ugly scowl rolled over her face once again. "Sorry, it's just that there's been a draught of good stories, I swear, all of these pet shows and ribbon cuttings, they honestly get old after a while."

Harry smiled and patted her on a shoulder in a consoling manner, and Lana arrived at his shoulder, and stop.

"Lois Lane, you haven't been harassing Harry, have you?"

Lois turned around and spotted a very familiar redhead waving her over.

"Lana, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Lois asked, and she greeted the redhead with a smile. "Harry's been the one keeping you out of trouble now, hasn't he?"

"Well more than the other way around I think, but I've been staying out of trouble," Lana said with a smile. "But that's more than I can say for you, given the up close and personal encounters that you've had with the Blur."

Lois looked flushed once again, she was interested in finding out exactly who this Blur was. The only thing that was obvious that the Blur was a she, but she went too fast to get anything more than that.

"I'll catch a ride back," Lana told Harry with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked and Lana smiled.

"Positive," Lana agreed and she leaned forward, giving Harry a very brief but welcomed kiss on the cheek, before she backed off, surprised at her own daring.

Lois raised her eyebrow and Lana smiled, before ushering her off, to get caught up on old times, about their mutual friends from Smallville.

The limo was waiting for Harry around the side once again, and he entered the limo, to see Alexandra Potter sitting in the back of the seat.

"So, did your lessons go well?" Harry asked the dark haired younger female version of himself.

"They've done well…although I still don't know why Zee learned it that way, all backwards and I mean…..doesn't that get confusing?" Alex asked with a confused frown on her face.

"There are any different forms of magic out there, some of them are more conventional than others," Harry told her once again, making his way to the back of the limo sitting next to her. "So, Zee tried to get you to do backwards spell casting?"

"Yes," Alex said shaking her head.

"Just to learn many different forms of magic, at least until you can do the incantations without saying the spell," Harry told her. "You're just learning the basics, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I want to get to the cool stuff," Alexandra said replied and Harry smiled.

He wondered if he was like that when he first learned magic, actually he was exactly like that.

"Patience, Alex, we need to learn how to crawl before we can walk and run," Harry told her once again. He actually thought that she had better chances to learn than he did when he went to that school because they overcomplicated things with theory. "So, I'm sure that you've done well on your lessons….."

"Yeah, but like you said, it's just the basics," Alex said and Harry looked at her. She quivered underneath her "cousin's" stern look. "But they're important."

"Yes, they're important," Harry swiftly told her in agreement and he tusseled her hair a little bit, messing it up.

"Har-ry," she whined once again, but Harry smiled at her.

"We should both get something to eat," Harry said and the driver as if on cue made sure to get them to a place where they could get something decent to eat.

* * *

"Strange might not even begin to cover it, I think," Karen said, looking at the latest readings. After three years, she had not given up the search. Yet, she got more frustrated.

Right now the blonde was sitting there, wearing a long flowing lab coat that wrapped around her body, a pair of glasses, and a bit of a scowl about her face once again. Harry walked up towards her once again. He had to get out to Vegas, but not until the morning.

"What do we have now?" Harry asked her and Karen was only too happy to let him in on the oddity that she found.

"There is this weird bit of Cosmic radiation…..it's only been barely caught by the satellite, and as far as I know, no one else has caught onto it," Karen said, feeling Harry's strong hands resting on her shoulder. She leaned back a little bit, relaxing herself when he ran his hands over across her shoulders.

Closing her eyes, Karen relaxed for a second before she spoke once again. "Weird might not even cover it come to think of it…..I've never seen anything like it before, not on Earth, not on Krypton, not on…..well not on anywhere."

Harry whistled, his eyes locked with his wife and he smiled at her.

"What do you think it is?"

"It could be just some space storm that hit the radar long enough and passed," Karen said, folding her legs together once again. "Or it could be a harbinger to something?"

"Or it could be a sign that Patricia could be arriving on Earth," Harry said and Karen turned around in the chair, facing her husband with a smile.

"You can't blame me for holding out hope that it's something like this, can you?" Karen asked him and Harry shook his head, looking into her eyes.

"No, I can't really blame you," Harry agreed, but he did wonder if they were chasing ghosts right now. "It's been three long years…"

"And you know that I hoped that something would break through by now, but it might be three more years, or it might even be more," Karen said as she let her breath out in a sigh and looked forward at the screen. "So, the Press Conference went well, didn't it?"

"Yes, it went rather well in fact," Harry told her and he placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close into him. "The press was satisfied and more importantly, the consumers are going to be satisfied when we put the Red Sun out on the market."

"That is the best thing for business," Karen told him, shifting her arms underneath her chest and leaning back with a smile on her face.

"I also got an interview with the Daily Planet….for when I get back from Vegas."

"It must be a big one, because you're rather picky about who you give out interviews to," Karen said, and she dropped the folder with the data down. So far it was nothing.

"Lois Lane, she was the one who did the first major Blur story…..and she's been hunting down who the Blur is for…..well even longer than we have," Harry said with a smile.

"Although we have a pretty good idea who she might be," Karen agreed and he smiled.

"Maybe, but the Blur, whoever they are, will come public…..although hopefully with a name that's nothing like that," Harry said in response. "Sometimes the press comes up with some good names and sometimes the names that they come up with is kind of blah."

"I know you'd agree with that, wouldn't you, Shadow Vigilante?" Karen asked with a knowing smirk towards Harry and he nodded in agreement, throwing his hands back, doing a real "guilty as charged" type pose when he looked at her.

"I guess so but…are you ready to go to Vegas?" Harry asked her.

"Given the last time we went there….well it was memorable," Karen said and Harry tightened his arm around her even more. The blonde rested her head lazily against his shoulder.

"Hey, Vegas have some big business out there," Harry reminded her once again. He was going to make a few deals out there, and the distribution deal for the phone was going to set many records and hopefully, just maybe shatter more than a few of them.

"Big business?" Karen asked him, grinning.

"Bigger, the big," Harry confirmed once again and he could see the lab coat that she was wearing, shifted.

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" Karen asked him, peering over the top of her glasses with a smoldering look and she bent towards her. "Helena said that she would be back in a few hours, so it's just the two of us right now."

Karen gave him a smoldering smile when she looked at him and her eyes traced hungrily over his body. Yes she needed some tensions to work out and now. She straddled him slightly once again, teasing him a little bit.

"So, I'm pretty sure that you've figured out a few things that we can do, to kill a little bit of time," Harry told her and the grin Karen gave him got wider when she knew what was coming.

"Well, I'm nothing if not resourceful, you know," Karen said, with a wide grin on her face, that got even wider when she looked at him, her arms crossed over her chest when she stared down Harry. "And I'm sure that you can guess what's underneath my coat right now."

If Harry didn't guess, he was about ready to find out. The blonde slowly slipped the coat off of her shoulders, allowing it to drop to the ground, revealing her nude body underneath it, other than her glasses naturally.

Harry thought that she looked dead sexy with this look. He was torn between jumping her and letting her jump him. Building up anticipation was key for a meeting like this.

"So, are you ready?' Karen asked him and Harry smiled at her.

"I think that much is obvious," Harry told her once again, placing his hand on the small of her back and bringing her in close to him, their lips smashing together with another powerful kiss.

Karen's hands slowly roamed all their way over Harry's body once again, and she slowly began to undo his pants.

The real fun was just about to begin, she was that confident in it.

* * *

Once again, Karen found herself resting on Harry's chest after a rather intense round of love making. The blonde grinned, biting down on her lip as she pushed herself up.

"So, don't tell me that you're going to give up already?" Karen asked to him and Harry shook his head.

"I don't think that I'm going to give up in the slightest," Harry told her as he cupped her ass and Karen pushed herself up, staring into his eyes, lust burning from them when she looked at him.

"Good, I'm glad, because I know that I'm not," Karen said, flickering her tongue over her lips, tracing it once again and she kissed Harry again.

Then their games continued from there.

* * *

"We have a nice private plane on our way to Vegas, plenty of room," Karen said, talking to her two spouses and Helena looked over her shoulder towards Harry once again and then back to Harry, giving her a piercing look that told her a lot of things. "What?"

"You do realize that we have a lot of business to do, before we even think about pleasure, don't you?" Helena asked and Karen dropped her arms to her side, grinning once again.

"Yes, I know that, but it's not like we can't think about a little bit of pleasure while we're there, after our business concludes," Karen said with an amused expression dancing in her eyes. "Although it would take a lot to top what happened last time, and you both know what I'm talking about."

"Know it, lived it, you know it," Harry told her and Karen nodded once again, her eyes focused on his back. "But what are the chances of something happening….."

Helena looked at her husband, and shook her head.

"Right, ominous words that could bite me in the ass later on," Harry concluded and they were in the back of the plane, it would be a nice brisk flight to Vegas.

"Good, I'm glad you've figured that out," Karen replied in amusement, placing her hands on the back of Harry's head and he looked at both of them. "Oh, just lighten up and relax, I'm sure that we'll be able to handle anything that comes our way."

"For the record, I don't doubt that."

Harry was optimistic despite that fact, lightning couldn't really strike twice now, could it?

For some reason after that thought, a full body shudder coursed through Harry's body and he shook his head.

'_Being kind of paranoid,' _he thought to himself and he was sandwiched between both of his wives.

"So, Lana is going to meet us out there, isn't she?" Harry asked.

"That's what she said, I wonder why she didn't go on the private jet, there's more than enough room here," Karen told Harry and there was some suggestion that danced through her eyes.

"I don't know, you're going to have to ask her," Harry said and he could see the looks of burning desire in the eyes of both of his wives, but Helena was a bit more subtle about it than Karen.

If the flight to Vegas would be the most eventful thing, then all three of them would agree that they would be in some pretty good shape.

* * *

**To Be Continued on September 9****th**** 2014. **

**Just a couple of quick notes here, Lana would have been the first girl that would have not been not a version of Kara to be added in Book Four if there was a Book Four. Either her or Donna, after the albatross had been removed from her. **

**We're off to Vegas, where we're getting to the point where I thought about starting this story rather early in the development. But obviously, that didn't happen. **

**Zatanna reference, although it will be a while before we see her in the flesh. **


	16. Three For One

**Chapter Sixteen: Three For One.**

* * *

The Vegas Business Expo might not have been the most cutting edge name in the world. That being said it consisted three days and three nights of some of the biggest business breakthrough in all of Metropolis. One could easily get into the Expo, no problem, providing one was willing to part with an arm and a leg to get inside.

The RAO Corporation and its new Red Sun phone was the top attraction this year. There were others. They didn't achieve main billing like the Red Sun did though.

"You know…you'd be really surprised with some of the useless things a lot of people would buy," Karen said, looking to one of the models.

It looked to be the previous year's model from this company, with a few extra whistles, maybe a fresh coat of paint.

"Never underestimate what people would buy," Helena said shaking her head.

Underestimating the buying power of the general public would be utter and complete foolishness. There were a lot of people who would buy something because of the marketing alone. That's why they planned to kick up the marketing for the Red Sun and really make it like something that people could not live without.

Mostly because it was something that people could not live without.

Harry kept his eyes on the new fighter aircraft that Ferris Air will be putting out next year, although it had more military applications than anything. He really couldn't see it for anything else. Some rich guy wouldn't take it out for a joyride after all.

It wasn't open to the general public and most certainly it wasn't really open to the press. That being said Harry, being Harry, could push his way inside if necessary. Connections he could exploit offered him a privilege to get inside.

"So, are you going to reconnect with some of your contacts later?" Karen asked him, grinning.

Harry looked over his shoulder back at her. He returned the grin in question.

"Maybe," he replied with a smile.

He craned his neck and looked for the woman in question. He could not see her. Then again, she was almost as busy as he was, so it should be obvious as to why he couldn't see her.

Helena tried to keep her mind calm but she could see so many people around her that she remembered growing up around her.

"So, do you think that Wayne Enterprises has a booth somewhere?" Harry asked Helena, nudging her briefly and Helena turned over her shoulder.

"It's over there," she said in a calm tone, not really breaking her stride. Her laser sharp focus aimed towards the booth.

Much to her somewhat relief, her father was not there. Then again, her father rarely did the public thing and she didn't see him going to Vegas. She saw Lucius Fox present. As usual, the dependable man held down the fort when the king to the throne was away.

'_Well not technically my father, rather an alternate version of him,' _Helena thought, reminding herself of one simple fact. Alternate universe travel can be a headache.

She kept an eye out for any hint of her mother but so far, nothing. Then again, Batman did inspire Catwoman in her own way. It was a twisted inspiration.

Inspiration can be found anywhere, even if said inspiration is twisted. Meanwhile she could see something. The brunette knew that Karen and Harry saw it as well. She was relieved by that because it caused her to focus less on the potential bat shaped elephant in the room.

"Is that…"

"Someone from LuthorCorp, you can tell," Harry whispered to both of them, careful to not let the suit know that they were onto him.

The fact of the matter was that Harry was suspecting something like this to happen. The LuthorCorp people were the ones that were most endangered by a bit of competition. They were also the ones who most likely got their panties into an uproar when their territory got entered on.

Harry hated to think why they feared a little bit of competition. He supposed that was some kind of mania within their minds.

Thankfully, Lionel was a bit more subdued than his son was in the original world. That being said, Lex had to get his multitude of issues from somewhere. His father might be the most obvious source for those issues.

"They just can't leave well enough alone, you know," Karen whispered.

She inclined her head down towards the ground once again to see if there was anyone around once again.

They noticed a younger Vicki Vale than the one that they met make her way around the ground, to talk to Gotham City News. Obviously considering that this Expo would be big news because of some of the movers and shakers there, someone would be there to cover it.

"Excuse me…." someone said, bumping into them, and Helena opened her mouth to say something. Then she realized who was talking to her and this completely caught her off guard. "I would love to talk, but I'm in a rush."

Harry and Karen only got a brief glimpse of her, with the dark hair, the green eyes, and the body to die for but the look on Helena's face said the entire story.

"Is that?" Karen asked and Helena nodded without any words coming out of her mouth. "I thought so."

Harry thought about bringing her over to do some business. He knew that Selina Kyle did some charity work, even when she was doing her night job. That being said, she would be an interesting person to do business with.

Unfortunately. she was in a rush and Harry unfortunately had other people to talk about yet again. He turned to Helena, mouth opening wide and closing once again. Needless to say, this was an experience that she was not expecting to deal with today.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked her, squeezing her hand.

Helena paused for a second, considering something, and she nodded at him.

"Just caught off guard," Helena said briskly.

She returned to her rather stoic demeanor, the same one she learned from her father. Nothing broke her.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked her.

Helene didn't waste any time answering. Her determination returned after that moment of uncertainty she gave him.

"Yeah, I'm sure…..don't we have a presentation to give in about ten minutes?" Helena asked.

Karen and Harry exchanged one of those looks. All things considered, she deflected things nicely from a close encounter of a person that was dead in her word. That kind of perseverance should be rewarded. Respectfully, they allowed the matter to drop.

"Yes, we do," Karen agreed and there were a lot of ears listening.

Most of them potential investors or business partners for other projects that could get off of the ground. A lot of eyeballs would be on them regardless when they moved their business forward. It was part of an extremely long term plan.

The entire world waited to see what direction this launch would go through. It could put RAO even further on the map, not that it wasn't on the map to begin with. In fact, they got an extremely nice head start.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming out here," Karen started and the entire crowd turned their attention to her. Karen prepared to have them eat out of the palm of her hand. "Communication is the cornerstone of a growing world and here at the RAO Corporation, we are looking to bring communication to an entirely new level. No longer will you have to worried about dropped calls or your cell phone bugging out at the worst possible instance, no rather…."

Karen, Helena, and Harry shifted the weight amongst each other. They took turns back and forth with giving the speech. They had to say that all three of them accomplished what they needed to go out and say admirably.

* * *

Lana waited for them at the edge of the convention, she only managed to hear a lot of the presentation, and it was a shame that something else came up that prevented her from missing most of it.

Luthor was sniffing around with some properties in Smallville. In response she valiantly tried to keep it out of his hands, before it turned into another LuthorCorp outpost. She was losing that battle suddenly.

The problem was that Luthor was getting in rather cozy with the Mayor and that could make things very difficult for Lana and her aunt, who still lived in Smallville. Lana refused to give up. Even if she felt like she fought an extremely intense and losing battle.

'_Business, it can get so personal sometimes if you piss off the wrong people, I swear,' _Lana said in exasperation.

She heard footsteps and turned. A smile crossed her face when he got closer. Then she straightened up and became serious when she saw Harry approach her.

"Hey, Lana, good to see that you can make it out here," Harry said with a smile.

"I caught the late night flight out from Smallville," Lana informed him and he smiled.

"How's Nell doing?"

"She's holding up pretty well….the economy in Smallville, well it's not the best after Luthor moved half of his business to Metropolis," Lana said evasively.

She didn't really want to let on that she was worried about the potential that Luthor could force a lot of people out of Smallville. All being done in the name of good business naturally; the twisted man could find any kind of justification.

Lana could feel a shiver course down her spine, it was always Harry's green eyes, and he gave her a sense that he was X-Raying her. Maybe he was for all she knew; she wasn't privy to all of his secrets. That being said, his gaze penetrating at her made her feel a little bit guilty.

"Why didn't you go out with us on the jet, there was plenty of room," Harry said to her.

Lana looked him straight in the eye. If she didn't know any better, she might have thought that it was a mistake.

"Personal business…..but it wasn't as pressing as I thought," Lana said once again. Or rather because Luthor didn't fight the right loop hole to throw his legal weight around and force her aunt out of business.

"Hmmm, well Lana, you know if there's a problem, you can tell me, right?" Harry asked her and Lana nodded.

"Yeah, I know that but….this is complicated," Lana said once again.

"If it's a matter of money…."

"It's not that, it just feels like I'm fighting the battle for Smallville's soul against Lionel Luthor's empire and he pulled out in the first place, wrecking the town," Lana said nervously but the dam in her mind burst and she jumped in. "I mean a lot of good people tried to keep it together, but you know, they couldn't really match up."

"And now, he's returning to town as their savior, and he's picking up some of the properties for dirt cheap and converting them into more outposts for LuthorCorp," Harry said Lana and Lana sighed.

"The problem is…..a couple of those places, if they got torn down, it would be a crime, they are staples of the town, they've been there since the time that the town was settled, over a hundred and fifty years ago," Lana said tensely.

She pressed her hands to the side of cheek. She really didn't know what to do, especially given that the Luthor name held way too much weight.

"If there is anything that I can do to help…" Harry said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

There was a second where Lana remained thoughtful. That being said, there might be something that Harry could do.

"If there is anything that you can do to help…..there just might be, but I know that you've got a lot on your plate," Lana said as she nervously looked at him. Her brown eyes locked onto his green eyes.

"Well, if this is important to you, consider it part of your payback for all of the help you've given me…..and with all of this in your mind, your fortitude with helping get the Red Sun off of the ground, that's even more amazing," Harry said gently.

Lana could not help and smile at the compliment.

"You know, if you keep this up, my head might not even fit through the front door," Lana said, relaxing against Harry's grip.

"Just telling the truth, like I always tell the truth," Harry said, slowly dropping her arm.

Lana caught her breath for a moment. Being up close and personal to the Harry Potter experience did take a girl's breath away. She switched tactics to another subject that had been on her mind as of late.

"So…..Lois managed to pin you down for an interview…well I can't believe that, but…..she is very persistent and I'm sure if you said no, she would have kept pressing for one," Lana said.

Harry edged closer to her after backing away. She wasn't sure what game he played now. It was very enticing that much was for sure.

"So you went to school with her?" Harry asked her.

Once again, he backed off, to give Lana a false sense of security nothing was happening. He could have sworn that he heard a wistful sigh escape from the young woman's lips when he backed off.

"Yeah," Lana said, kind of disappointed that he didn't draw closer. Instead he seemed further away, almost like he was out of reach. "Only less than a year through but someone like Lois, she's going to leave her impression on you, even if she only sticks around for not that long."

"Yeah, she does seem like that type of person," Harry agreed.

Lana felt him perilously close to her. Temptation visited the young woman. She longed to meet her lips towards his and kiss him. They managed to move into a tent off to the side and there was no one there. It was a fact that needed to be emphasized. **There was no one there. **

No witnesses to anything that she might do or that he might do to her and the very thought left her hot and bothered very much so.

"So, I'm not going to force you to accept my help, but I am offering it to you, if you want it," Harry whispered to her and Lana nodded, she could feel a tingle appear between her legs. "Just ask, and I'll give it to you."

Lana wondered if he was, perhaps subtly offering his help in other ways. Before she could move or he could move in for the kill, he was stopped.

Karen zoomed in, urgency in her eyes and her voice as well.

"There's a situation outside," Karen quickly stated.

She tugged on Harry's sleeve and sure enough, the urgency was verified by a huge explosion outside. A second one drove home the urgency if the first one wasn't more than enough.

Lana gritted her teeth in frustration; she was so close but yet so far from coming into contact with him.

"Right, I'll talk to you later, duty calls," Harry said to her.

He slipped outside, leaving Lana hanging, which was unfortunate but she understood. She understood that her needs might have come secondary.

"Right, right, I understand," Lana said to him.

"Do you need anything, Lana?" Karen asked.

Before Lana could answer that question another bang outside jerked her straight back into reality.

Her body screamed yes, but her common sense said no. Even though she was distracted by the plunging neckline on Karen's blouse. A couple of buttons seemed to be loosened because of the immense Vegas heat.

"I'll be fine, you better help Harry and Helena…..and it looks like I better get to safety," Lana said, hearing the screams from outside.

* * *

Arcane arrived at the scene of the crime and there were loud footsteps with the approaching army arriving. That never was good, but exactly what degree of not good this was remained to be seen.

"So, what do we have to deal with exactly?" Arcane asked, dropping down next to Power Girl.

Power Girl stood there, arms folded, her short blonde hair whipping in the breeze. She wore an extremely tight one piece suit that stretched around her nice body. Her breasts strained within the suit and her long legs showed in the outfit. A pair of blue gloves, blue boots, and a flowing red cape topped off the outfit.

"Something like that, if I'm not mistaken," she answered, a darker tone to her voice when she pointed at something.

They spotted the army approaching. Their enemies were an army of gigantic toy soldiers that marched forward in a set pattern. The troops were marching in and Karen watched them, her eyes widening a little bit when she followed their progress.

"You're kidding me…..you're not kidding me," Harry whispered, with sigh.

They were not kidding him. The troops marched on in towards them and they seemed to have a specific target in mind. They looked extremely dangerous.

Huntress was dressed, ready for action. She wore a black mask with her dark hair flowing once again, a tight black top, and a pair of black and purple pants, along with black boots. She held out the retractable staff. Said staff emitted a tiny bit of electricity to add a punch to her attacks.

"We need to take them down…and find out what they're after," Huntress said and Power Girl turned to her.

"Not necessarily in that order, right?" Power Girl asked, ready for action.

She flew herself at the toy soldiers and tried to smash the enemies with a furious force.

One of the emitted a red glowing force field around it, which caused her to put the brakes on and prevent herself from smashing head long into it. Thankfully, because otherwise that would sting a little bit.

"Okay, that's not going to work as well as I thought it might," Karen muttered, pulling herself back.

"Yeah, they're really not going to work well," Harry agreed.

He strained and heard something. Pinpointing it straight away, he could find what he was looking for. There was a signal and it was growing stronger the closer that these toy soldiers approached them. He had to lock onto the signal and track it to the source.

"Get them from above, I'll get them from behind, and….."

"From the front, I know," Huntress said.

She threw several gas pellets in the air and wondered what they were waiting for. It didn't really matter what they were waiting for. The last thing she wanted to do was have them implement their plans. The Huntress swooped in and smashed her large metal staff into the chest of the toy solider. The circuits fried thanks to this one attack.

Karen bounced against them like a ping pong ball. She sliced three of them in one go with their heat vision. A smug look of satisfaction crossed her face when she watched their ashen remains drop to the ground.

"This is not what I wanted at all," an angered voice said.

Harry knew one thing, whoever controlled these soldiers had a temper. Something he exploited to his advantage. Managing to lure the toy soldiers over towards him, he created an electric magnet pulse with his suit. It was geared to frying only the electronics that were of a certain energy pattern. And that certain energy pattern was the toy soldiers.

'_Oh, someone isn't happy,' _Karen thought pleased.

Toy soldiers smashed into the ground, bits flying. Some of them did an about face and ran in the other direction.

'_Some are retreating,' _Helena thought. She didn't let up her attacks despite that fact.

One flew through the wall where a bunch of shell shocked civilians waited.

Karen's eyes widened, she wondered why people weren't smart enough to get themselves out of harm's way but there was really no worrying about that right now. The blonde zipped over to the wall. She clutched the wall and held it up. The heroine's efforts prevented the wall from dropping down and crushing the civilians underneath it.

Somehow, she held it back, it was through great strength and determination but she was able to hold it back and Harry shot one of the sticky glue pellets out of his suit.

Arcane flashed in front of the group of people and stared at them, through narrowed eyes. "You people should run."

Needless to say, they didn't need any other invitation to run. They scrambled as fast as their feet could go and carried them out.

"Well that was eventful," Power Girl said answered and Huntress smiled in triumph. There could only be one reason for that. "I'm guessing that you got a signal."

"I've got a signal," Huntress confirmed and she began to trace it. "And hopefully I'll be able to follow that signal back to the source."

"So, who do you think did this?" Arcane asked them.

To be honest that was an extremely good question, even if it currently lacked a really good answer.

"I don't know, it could be anyone who has a bone to pick with any of the business people at the convention," Karen replied, thoughtfully mulling it over in her mind. "I know, it doesn't really narrow things down."

"The two of you better stick around, and investigate to see if he shows up again, I'll head off and see what I can find on my end," Huntress said with a smile.

She bid her two spouses goodbye and slipped into the night. That left Karen and Harry alone.

"Well at least she's getting a lot better at the entire spontaneous disappearance thing, isn't she right….Arcane?" Power Girl asked and she spun around to see that her husband was now there "Arcane?"

He reappeared behind her seconds later.

"Right here, just wanted to check something," Arcane said.

Her piercing glare met his eyes and she folded her arms underneath her breasts. "You know, that wasn't funny."

"I wasn't trying to be funny you know," Arcane said in a serious voice. "I don't think that we were the only heroes here today."

"Are you thinking…"

"I don't know, but we're going to have to find out, won't we?" Arcane asked once again and he could hear the police arriving. They were a little bit late to the party. Better late than never he supposed The green eyed hero sighed and he turned to his wife, who looked anxiously into his eyes. "So are you…."

"We'll have a look around, I doubt that he's this close by," Power Girl said and she raised an eyebrow. "LuthorCorp was the one that was attacked, that's extremely curious."

"Did you even see a Luthor in Vegas today?" Arcane asked.

Power Girl tried to rack her brain, she thought that they would stick out like a sore thumb if they did.

"No, I didn't see them, I think they're too big time or too busy for something like this, or they had business elsewhere," Power Girl said and she looked thoughtful. "Or, Luthor is behind this, would you really put it past him?"

Harry had to say that he wouldn't. It would really be something if he was. Then again, it was vintage Luthor.

He looked forward, seeing a red-haired woman who was walking amongst the LuthorCorp people. She had her hair tied back and wore glasses, and a long coat despite it being in the hot Nevada summer. That being said, Harry recognized her.

"Hmm," Harry muttered and he straightened up. "Not sure what game they're playing right now."

That being said, he found a footprint with words in it. Activating a function on his suit, he blew the words up so they could read it.

"Helena, Winslow Schott Inventions," Arcane told Huntress over the communication line. "That might be the guy who we're looking for, or the guy who build the weapons for the guy that we're looking for."

"What kind of idiot stamps his name on the bottom of a death machine?" Power Girl asked, deeply frowning.

It was Helena who answered this question.

"The type of idiot who wants to be found and the type of idiot who is playing a game, but I'll check it out," Huntress said.

Arcane sighed, he didn't much care for playing games, but this was going to be a headache. They had to investigate here at the Expo to see if there were more clues. That had to wait for right now. They also had duties as Harry Potter and Karen Starr to attend to.

The dual life of being a super hero, always with conflicts, but that was just a huge part of life.

* * *

A man with dark hair sat at a console, sneering once again at the sights in Vegas. Thankfully he wasn't that foolish and knew that someone might follow the tracker in the suit. He controlled a computer remotely from this base that was halfway across the desert. He sent out a signal to cause everything incriminating to self-destruct.

"They think that they're so clever, heroes do, they ruin my plans," he whispered once again, peering over the console.

He was dressed in an extremely ugly green suit, with a purple tie. The creepy man peered over the screen with a pair of thick glasses. His eyes narrowed in fury and frustration.

"Heroes, they put the entire world in danger by what they do, what they do to me. Well they're not going to…..I refuse to let them. They won't stop me. I rule this game, they're not going to interfere in my plans."

He slammed his fist on the console and there was a blueprint of a tower that appeared on the screen before him. It was blinking intensely when he looked at it. The main LuthorCorp tower in Metropolis was right in front of him and his scowl grew uglier.

"The place where dreams go to die," the man said when he looked over. "They fired me because my designs were too unsafe…well they ruined my dream, now I'm going to ruin their life, the entire Luthor legacy."

Lionel Luthor was a rotten bastard and anything that he spawned would be just as bad. The man's name was Winslow Schott, his father was a toymaker for years but he made other things on the side if the price was right. Many times throughout his life, the price had been more than right for him.

Schott's father died in a lab accident and Schott brought his designs to LuthorCorp, hoping to make money, but that was the biggest mistake in his life. He was kicked out the door when he signed over the designs of some of his father's inventions to Luthor. Luthor had what he wanted so he threw out Schott's father like a piece of garbage.

The biggest mistake in Luthor's life would be letting him go. The younger Schott would make certain of that.

"You think that the Toyman would have been out on the street, scrounging for scraps, but you would be wrong," Toyman whispered harshly"You see, I am more than that, I am much more than that."

The Toyman's scowl got even uglier when he looked things over and tapped his finger on the side of the console.

"Much more than that," Toyman whispered.

He hunted for the blood of Lionel Luthor and he would have his prey, no doubt about it. His toy soldiers were equipped with the latest accessories but those three do-gooders decided to play the hero. As a result, his plans were set back.

Set back but not stopped, and the Toyman still wasn't ready to pack up and put away.

"They might have been able to defeat the prototypes, but now I'm ready to have some fun," Toyman said and he studied the security footage intently. He formulated a new battle strategy. "They had help, they don't know how to play by the rules. Well it's time to teach them an abject lesson that I rule this game."

Toyman twisted a knob and he looked forward, with deadly intentions dancing through his eyes.

"It's Playtime!" Toyman called with malice in his voice and he looked at his next group of party favors. Soon the games would be other when LuthorCorp was ruined. It would be a matter of revenge and it would be served on the sweetest dish of all.

"Self-destruction sequence set and armed."

"Excellent," Toyman said, the plot coming together quite nicely.

It would be foolish to launch them at night, when there was no one around. The LuthorCorp people were stubborn to a fault but if they ran, they couldn't hide. These little nasty creations would target anyone that got in their way and after a set amount of time, they would explode.

Toyman programmed the security around his base. The cannons mounted on the top of the building were not for ages twelve and over that was for sure.

"You thought that you were smart enough, well I'll show you who is the master, my toys are bigger than your ego, Luthor," Toyman said, his face splitting into a creepy grin.

* * *

Harry Potter found himself waking up in the midst of a Vegas hotel room. He was a bit foggy as to how he got there, and he experienced the weirdest case of Deja-Vu imaginable.

That being said, he knew that after the investigation turned up absolutely nothing, he and Karen went to the casino. Helena investigated things on her end with this entire Schott situation. He managed to find out that the Expo was going to continue regardless, which Harry found a little bit fascinating to be honest, but he wasn't sure if it was the best idea.

That being said, he was waking up in the hotel room in bed. Much to the surprise of absolutely no one, Harry included, he was not alone.

He could see a rather attractive redhead pressed up against him for starters, and at first he thought it was Lana. Upon closer inspection, he saw it wasn't her. The redhead looked to be in a state of deep sleep, and she was fairly tall, with a nice set of breasts, a toned stomach, and long legs, along with a fit ass. She looked like she worked out rather nicely. Harry took several moments to appreciate that fact when he studied her body.

Harry could see two more parties at the edge of the bed and managed to shift without rousing the redhead, before he got a closer look.

One of them looked to be a young woman, perhaps close to twenty, at least that's how she looked by the looks of things. Her silky black hair covered her face and her eyes were shut when she rested, but her arms folded down next to her side. He noticed she had an extremely fit body, with a nice rounded set of breasts that were covered by a sticky fluid. The sleeping goddess had her hand covering her center that had a small strip of black hair going down it. There was a rope that was half tied around her wrists as well.

The third party looked like a miniature version of Karen, maybe about five or six years younger. A bit younger than Karen was when Harry met her all of those years back on the original Earth. That being said, her golden blonde hair shined in the sunlight, her eyes were shut, but there was a satisfied smile on her face. Her head rested on Harry's thigh, using it for a pillow, and she was stretched out. Her chest rose and fell when she slept, looking quite peaceful and content.

All good things must come to an end, and it was time for Harry to raise them out of sleep.

"Oh, you're awake," the blonde said at the edge of the bed with a smile and she turned around, crawling up his body, so she could straddle his hips playfully. A bright and sunny grin appeared on her face when she looked down at him. "I'm sure that you want some more….because after last night, you couldn't get enough, you wore poor Barbara and Donna out."

The blonde nudged the redhead once again and she mumbled something in her sleep. The blonde grinned before she pursed her lips. With mischievous intentions blew a cold burst of air at the redhead's privates which jolted her out of bed.

"THAT WASN'T FUNNY KARA!" Barbara yelled in a panicked voice.

The redhead nearly fell out of bed and that roused the other party, the dark haired girl who was resting at the edge of the bed.

"Could you try and keep it down, its way too early in the morning," she whispered, shifting with a slight painful wince.

There was a large wet spot from where she rested. Her finger brushed against her, she was still a bit tender down there but rather satisfied.

The blonde, Kara, looked at the clock. "It's almost two in the afternoon, guess that we missed breakfast and lunch…..but then I think we did this all night and well into the early morning."

"Two in the afternoon, I have to be the Expo in about forty minutes," Harry said, but he could barely move. The blonde managed to shift away from him.

"Yeah, I know, you did have a few drinks last night, I think we all did, but some of us can hold our alcohol better than others," Kara said with a smile. "But….how much of last night do you remember?"

"Bits and pieces…"

"Hopefully we can refresh your memory later," Kara said, with a sultry grin. "Anyway, I'll speak for both of them, considering they're not in a fit state to."

"I'm fine, I just need a cold shower," Donna muttered trying to get off the bed.

Her movement was limited and she shook her head.

"Anyway, I'm Kara Kent, this is Donna Troy," Kara said and she watched the third party and added, almost as if an afterthought. "And this is Barbara Gordon."

"Where the hell are my panties?" the redhead, Barbara, grumbled.

"You threw them out of the window," Kara replied nonchalantly and Barbara just groaned in agitation.

"That's not what I want to hear," Barbara told her.

Kara shrugged and flashed her friend an apologetic little smile, even though she wasn't completely sorry.

"Anyway, this is Barbara Gordon, and last night the three of us got married….not to each other but to you…..well technically we got married to each other, I guess," Kara said and Barbara shook her head.

"I can't believe I let you two talk me into this," Barbara said, even if her protests sounded faint and half-hearted.

"You weren't complaining last night," Kara fired back with a grin. "So anyway, we got married….."

Harry laughed, which Kara misinterpreted. She folded her arms and glared at him.

"I'm being serious…..you had the rings…..I don't know how you had such nice rings on short notice…."

"No, it's not that, this isn't the first time that happened, I'll explain later, but I need to call someone, why don't the three of you get dressed?" Harry suggested, his words and thoughts racing a million miles a minute.

"Would if I could find my clothes," Barbara said with a sigh.

She knew that drinking with two super powered heroines was a mistake, but the drinking part was what she regretted. The sex, not so much, but she supposed that she would have to deal with it. That being said, Harry handed her something.

She regarded it a bit tentatively. "What's that?"

"It will help you think straight," Harry told her and Barbara looked at it, before she drank it.

Sure enough she was feeling much better.

"So, I guess some explaining is in order," Kara said.

Harry nodded and waited for Karen to pick up the phone. She must have been too busy or incapacitated. He didn't sense anything off in the bond link, that caused him any kind of concern.

Or too mad that she didn't get any, unless she did. And she left before then to take care of business for RAO.

"Yes."

"We better start at the beginning," Barbara said tensely.

Donna rummaged through a bag and managed in some kind of great miracle, to find an extra pair of clothes.

"That would be ideal with most stories," Harry said.

He wondered how he got here, and what they were doing.

* * *

**To Be Continued on September 12****th****, 2014. **

**So the end scene of this chapter and the entire next chapter was the initial first chapter, many months back(like November/December of 2013). It worked out for the better I think. **

**A couple of subplots kind of got set up here, that will be paid off in the coming chapters. **

**See you on Friday. **


	17. Super Best Friends Forever Do Las Vegas

**Chapter Seventeen: Super Best Friends Forever Do Las Vegas.**

Much like all great stories, the best place to start them was at the beginning.

* * *

"I don't know if it's such a good idea," Barbara commented, crossing her arms together. Her looked at Donna and Kara brimmed with apprehension and worry.

There was really nothing else to do. Despite the fact the collective trio racked their brains to try and find a way to alleviate their boredom. Something told her this might not be the best way to cure this particular condition. That being said, the looks of joy in their eyes made Barbara very worried.

She felt worry for good reason.

"Oh come on, it will be fun," Kara said with a wicked smile on her face.

"Yeah, it would be an experience, even if we might get in trouble for it," Donna said, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet.

Donna and Kara stared at Barbara with pleading looks dancing in their eyes.

Barbara wondered how she let these two talk her into anything. Perhaps it could have been the fact that she was just as bad as them. She did have a knack of getting herself into her trouble. It all started when she was eight years old. Maybe younger, maybe older, it was hard to remember. The girl hacked into her first computer system at that age and it was all downhill from there.

"It's not like something that we can pick up and go…..it's quite the flight out there, and while you two can fly, I obviously can't," Barbara said and Kara opened her mouth to chime in with the really obvious solution. She knew what Kara was about to say. After knowing her for this long, she just knew it. Barbara waved her hands. "And no, absolutely not, I'm not doing what you're going to suggest, not after last time."

"But….."

"Absolutely not, Kara," Barbara said, her jaw set firmly, staring back at Kara.

After that little event and Kara's energetic methods last time, Barbara felt reluctant to do anything along those lines. She was okay physically and she was sure that Kara was going to bring up that point but that wasn't really the point. The redhead's glare remained firm and unwelding.

"But….."

"No Kara, and yes I know I came out fine, but that isn't the point and you know it," Barbara told her.

The blonde continued to protest without saying anything. Donna gazed at both of her best friends in amusement. It was like a tennis match where she watched back and forth. From one side to the other, it was one of the most entertaining things she experienced.

"But…"

"You know, you can keep saying but all you want you, but there's no way I'm getting carried and being flown halfway across the country with you," Barbara said and Kara folded her arms, and bit down on her lip. Kara delved into a full blown pout. Barbara sighed, at another time she might have been swayed by that. "And as adorable as that might be, that's not going to work this time, and you know it."

"Okay, fine it won't work," Kara sighed. She tried for a different tactic "But you can't deny that the allure of the bright lights and the big city of Vegas entices you. Even a little bit?"

Barbara wasn't about ready to deny that. Only a liar would say such a thing. She didn't lie. Bend the truth maybe, but the girl never lied. That being said, she did her best impression of a mime. To encourage these two was a disaster waiting to happen.

"I got an idea," Donna said.

Barbara shuddered. Mortal dread filled her body but curiosity overrode any sense of dread she could have.

"What is it, what's your idea?" Barbara asked her.

She just knew that this could suck a little bit. Her eyes peered at Donna and knew that if she didn't allow the Amazon Princess to say her piece, she would never hear the end of it.

"Oh, nothing much, I think that we should borrow Diana's invisible jet, that would get us down to Vegas, you know," Donna said, bouncing up and down.

Kara looked thoughtful for a second.

"You know, that wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, all things considered," Kara answered, and Donna beamed.

Barbara had serious misgivings about this.

"You know is it…"

"Babs, it's safe, trust me," Donna said, patting her friend on the shoulder.

Somehow, perhaps it was just her, but Barbara Gordon didn't seem too reassured. She felt more panicked than ever before.

Kara had a question of her own that she needed to get out there.

"Your sister, can fly, can't she?" Kara asked and Donna nodded in response. "Why does she have an Invisible Jet?"

"You know, I'm pretty sure that she has one, just so she can come across as a big shot, because that's what Diana does," Donna replied but she folded her hands together. "So how about it, are the two of you in?"

Kara bounced up and down in excitement. This action made Barbara sorely question her friend's sanity or lack thereof.

"Oh you know I'm in," Kara grinned and she turned to Barbara. "How about you Barbara?"

"You know, I guess that I'm coming with you," Barbara said bending down.

The squeeing sound of two girls mercifully did not reach Barbara's ears from this vantage point. She lifted her bag up into her hands and sighed.

The double super powered hug of death was not something that she could avoid that much. Barbara sighed. A flush of warmth spread over her body.

'_Worst way to go, death by hugs…..well maybe not the worst way to go,' _Barbara thought, sighing deeply.

"You know, I do have a more sensitive frame than you two do, so could you please dial things back just a tiny bit?' Barbara asked, their grips squeezing her tightly.

Both girls sheepishly pulled away from her.

"Sorry," Kara answered, hanging her head a little bit and she looked honestly sorry.

"So, we need to get the Invisible Jet, but first I need to find it," Donna said, biting down on her lip.

To be honest, she really didn't plan this out as well as she could have thought.

"Well, where did you last see it?" Barbara asked but she paused.

She realized what she said and the look of amusement on Kara's face was almost unbearable.

"Well you see, there was no place where she saw it last, because you see, the jet is invisible," Kara replied and Barbara sighed and grumbled, with the blonde slipping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "So Diana is okay with us taking this, right?"

Barbara didn't even think of that and she actually felt that this was a step in the right direction for Kara to ask this question.

Donna looked at both of her friends and shook her head.

"Donna!"

Donna ignored Barbara's exclamation of protest and shook her head.

"Well, I'm sure that we could get it back before it's missed," Donna said and she closed the gap between both of her friends. "Come on, what's life without breaking a few rules?"

"A lot more peaceful?" Barbara asked and both of them glared at her.

Barbara knew she would lose this one if both of them started to double team her.

"So what about your cousin?" Barbara asked her and Kara smiled.

"The Blur is off world right now for something," Kara commented with a grin and she dropped the subject right now. "So, how about that Invisible Jet?"

* * *

"The one weekend out of the year we would have to go to Vegas, it would have to be an absolute madhouse. You know with all of these businesses in town."

Barbara walked in in style, wearing a pair of sunglasses, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. A black tank top covered her ample breasts, and a pair of jean shorts added to her outfit, showing her alluring legs.

Kara smirked, she was dressed in a white tank top, along with a tight pair of jean shorts, and her arms crossed together. "More of a chance to blend in you know, because less of a chance to be found if someone finds us…..even if your father sends his coffee buddy after us."

Barbara blinked suddenly and sighed. "Coffee buddy….."

She was trying to picture her father sitting down and having coffee with him in that get up. The thought nearly caused her brain failure and then laughter in response. She nearly bent over and broke down into laughter and that was followed by her almost breaking into tears.

"Oh, the mental image of it all," Barbara muttered under her breath.

Kara smiled, glad to see that she could help.

Donna waited for the banter to dial down. She was dressed in a purple tank top, with her hair pulled back. Her bracelets hung rather nicely from her wrists, glinting in the Vegas sunlight. She stood out a little bit, but not as much as she would have outside of Vegas.

"Just hope we can remember where we park the Invisible Jet," Donna warned them.

"We got here just fine, and…"

"Was that before or after we nearly hit that military aircraft on our way here?" Barbara asked.

Kara looked about ready to protest but Barbara placed her finger into the blonde's lips in response. She didn't want to hear it. At all.

"Hey, we lost them," Donna protested, shrugging her shoulders.

Barbara sighed. The desire to ram her head into something hard rose high.

"Not the point….." Barbara said and she paused when they walked further down towards the Expo.

The group stopped and they saw something interesting. Cops swarmed the place. Kara frowned at the sight and wondered what the hell happened.

Donna had a suspicious thought on her mind and slowly turned to Barbara to confirm it.

"Your father didn't send the entire GCPD all the way to Vegas to intercept you, did he?" Donna asked gently.

Barbara shook her head. Before she could delve into this investigation, something else caught her attention.

"Giant toy soldiers, you don't suppose….." Barbara said, nudging Kara.

Kara's eyes flashed towards the toy soldiers. Barbara's idea might not be far off.

"Yes, Barbara, I do suppose," Kara said, balling up her fists.

She didn't want it to be that. All indications pointed to the fact that one of her cousin's enemies showed up in Vegas to ruin their little side trip. The flash of bright lights and the arming of weapons forced Kara to concede to this fact. Not to mention the screams of people, that was important to determining what sucked.

"I was afraid of that then," Donna said, following the progress of the toy soldiers with her eyes "Do you think that we should get involved?"

Kara answered the question the only way she could. She shot to the nearest soldier in a blur. One swift force knocked it down and caused it to clatter to the ground. She blurred back to them before she was even missed that much.

The seventeen year old girl dropped to the ground, with a smug look on her face. Donna and Barbara sighed with each other. Barbara seemed beyond all words after seeing that little display from Kara.

Donna decided to say what Barbara was thinking. "You're a little show off sometimes."

Kara didn't really say anything on the account something caught her off guard. The blonde stared straight forward. Perhaps she was losing her mind. Another blur flashed off into the distance at the speed of light and knocked into one of the creatures.

"Look, the toy soldiers are retreating," Barbara said, pointing the blatantly obvious out.

Kara could see and Kara was glad that they were. Another problem presented itself that caused her attention to be diverted from the enemies. Donna and Barbara didn't really notice it right away, but Kara did.

It was almost like there was another Kryptonian there, other than the two that were here in this world. The blonde wondered…well she was going to do a little poking around because otherwise that just wouldn't be fun.

"I can see that they're retreating," Kara chimed in and frowned. Was this as cut and dry as she thought it was?

Barbara frowned, wondering if they went back to some kind of base to get orders or not.

'_Are they getting marching orders,' _she thought.

As quickly as things started, they calmed down. That left them all in a lurch and confusion resounded with what happened.

Donna cleared her throat and both of her friends turned to face her.

"So, do you think that we can try and enjoy Vegas?" Donna muttered to both of her friends.

Kara turned and was glad that she was reminded about the fact that she was here in the first place. It was in fact to have fun.

"Yes, I think that we can try and enjoy Vegas," Kara said and now that things cooled down they could.

This was a place to let their hair down and not worry about the great power that came with great responsibility. Vegas was where it was at and the three super best friends decided to enjoy it as they could.

* * *

"Oh come on, that guy looks far younger than the three of us do, and you let him in," Kara said, folding her arms and gritting her teeth.

The girl felt she had the blonde moment to end all blonde moments. She knew that she forgot something that would have made this entire Vegas trip a bust. Identification that was extremely important and she bungled it.

The bouncer didn't look sympathetic to their plight. "He might look far younger than any of you do, but he has something that you don't, and that's a valid ID, so unless you want to cough up some identification, I suggest you all hit the road and find yourself another place, because this is for real men and women, sweetheart."

Anger filled Kara. She couldn't fucking believe this.

Barbara jumped in to try and temper the situation. Even if her temper was at a boiling point, she had to try.

"You know that's…"

"Them are the rules, Red," the bouncer said, he had a job to do. He might not like it but he followed the rules. "So, you've got two choices, either come up with the ID or hit the bricks, because this place is not for you."

Kara eyed Donna nervously over her shoulder, she was about to hit something, it wasn't the bricks however.

"Is there a problem?"

Kara turned around and her mouth opened wide open. The young man who stood before her blew her completely away. She was spell bound by his presence, with the brightest green eyes she ran into in her life.

'_Whoa,' _Kara thought, shaking her head.

The girl nearly fell over in shock with what she saw. His presence completely caused her to go into complete mental shutdown.

A brief check of the state of both Donna and Barbara showed the same thing and they both were sizing him up and looking him over.

"Nah, Doctor Potter, the three of them, it's just a bunch of teeny boppers trying to get in…..you go ahead and enjoy the accommodations, I mean, you're just keeping this place in business," the bouncer said and Harry frowned, and waved his hand.

"You said that they didn't have the proper ID, didn't you?" Harry asked him and the bouncer's eyes grew rather vapid and unclear..

This was not an abnormal state for someone like him. The backlash of the little effect caused Barbara, Kara, and Donna to grow transfixed as well.

"Magic," Donna whispered, her eyes not even leaving the situation for a second.

"No duh," Kara said, and she grew more excited with what else he could do.

Magic did have some potential possibilities. And not all of them were perverted. That did help though.

"I think that you better check," Harry said, gesturing towards the girls.

The three girls were as shocked as anyone to find that the proper identification flashed into their hands. It most certainly had not been there ten seconds ago.

"Huh, I guess they were there, well ladies, get there, and have a pleasant night," the bouncer said, sounding rather dopey like he was in a daze.

Kara was glad that she didn't kick him now. Also, she was really glad that Donna held herself back from being way too impulsive.

"How did you do that?" Donna asked. She realized she asked a stupid question and amended herself hastily. "Actually I know how you did that…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry commented evasively to them.

Karen had to fly back to Metropolis really quick but she would be back before morning. She said that Harry had free reign, as long as he didn't do anything that would get himself arrested. This Harry had no intention of doing. He had the ability to get himself into trouble but more importantly he had the ability to get himself out of it.

"Well, I think that we know how you did it, but exactly why did you do it?" Barbara pressed on once again and she looked at the ID.

Sure the birthdays were a little bit fudged for obvious reasons. All the other facts were in place. It started to creep her out with how perfect these things. Magic seemed to be the obvious explanation but there had to be a deeper more sinister explanation for this.

Harry was there with the obvious explanation. "I figured that the three of you came all of this way, it would be a bad idea to have you shut out to a place that you really needed to come to."

"Makes perfect sense to me…..um, I'm Kara Kent," the blonde told him and Harry smiled.

'_So younger version of you, honey…..hey, I found her,' _Harry thought to Karen through the bond link.

'_You know, I was hoping for something a bit more climatic,' _Karen answered him but she was pleased that her younger counterpart was found.

They would have to get out of her how she came to be on Earth. It seemed to be inconceivable that they missed her if she came the same way Karen did.

"Donna Troy," the dark haired girl said and she gave Harry a firm handshake.

Diana bitched her out about not crushing someone's hand with a handshake. Donna couldn't help it sometimes; she didn't know her own strength. She dialed it back a little back when that was mentioned. Amazon strength and habits died hard.

"And Barbara Gordon," the redhead said with a smile.

"I'm Harry Potter…."

"Oh, as in the Harry Potter?" Barbara asked in excitement and Kara and Donna looked at her in amusement. Barbara's piercing glare caused them to retract their looks instantly "I mean, you're Harry Potter, the real deal, and it's just that….well I've followed your work."

Barbara wondered if she stuck her foot in her mouth. There was a fine line between admiring someone's work and being a fangirl. Barbara tried hard not to cross it to the best of her abilities.

"Relax, I'm here on Vegas…..well business mostly, but I've had my fair bit of Vacation while I'm here," Harry said as he lightly touched her hand.

Barbara grew red but she managed to hold herself together and nodded eagerly.

"The Red Sun sounds awesome, I can't wait to get one, when it comes out," Barbara said, fidgeting in her seat.

Amusement filled Kara's eyes as she leaned towards the redhead. "Is that because you threw your crap cell phone out of the window when you couldn't get reception?"

Barbara shifted, sighed, and nodded. They got her there.

"So, how would you ladies like a drink?" Harry asked her and he smiled. "It's on me."

"Okay, one drink, and I stress that, one drink," Barbara said, even though she knew that it was rarely one drink.

Barbara was determined to be the responsible one even if being the responsible one only was by process of elimination.

"Ooh, it's one of those slot machines," Donna said, in anticipation.

Barbara's eyes flashed through the machine. She heard stories and decided that it was her responsibility to warn Donna about them all.

"Donna, those machines are rigged so people are parted with a month's wages," Barbara warned her.

Kara turned around, activating her X-Ray vision when she peered into the machine and she turned back to Donna with a grim nod.

"Barbara's right," Kara said, trying not to look at the redhead's smug expression.

Harry looked at the machine and smiled knowingly."Oh, there's really no problem with these machines, all you need is a steady hand to work them."

With that, Harry put a coin into the machine and pulled the lever. The machine gave an eerie glow and suddenly, a shower full of silver dollars spit out.

"See, Harry was able to do it," Donna said.

Barbara raised her eyebrow. She tried to figure out a logical reason that was different from the illogical reason. "Doctor Potter…seems to have an affinity with them, yes."

"Please, Barbara, call me Harry," Harry told her, amused out how flushed she looked about this statement.

"Right Harry," Barbara said and Donna walked over to the machine. "Donna, I'm not sure that you have…"

"Here, you just have to have a feel for the machine," Harry said, placing his hands on either side of Donna's waist and held her steady against the machine. The Amazon, rather instinctively or on purpose, shifted up against him. Harry held to keep her in place. "And once you get a feel for the machine, pull the lever and let it all flow."

Donna did as she was requested, and she pulled the lever. She waited for its progress and seconds later, a shower of silver dollars popped out.

"That's awesome," Donna said with a smile.

The Amazon Princess was on a roll. She decided to do it again, popping another silver dollar in, and once again, more of them popped out of the machine.

"Oooh, I want to try, please," Kara said, not sounding too eager.

Before she had her chance to go, the entire group ordered a round of drinks.

* * *

"I can't believe that they kicked us out," Kara said and she took a staggering step from the club.

She looked and sounded a bit tipsy. She didn't look as bad as Barbara and Donna, who looked pretty blitzed.

"Can't believe that they accused us for cheating, when their machines were so obviously rigged," Donna said, leaning up against Harry. It was for the practical purposes of standing up and also for the purposes of her being comfortable. "Well, I guess we got enough money…"

"And they comped us a room if we stopped playing," Barbara added, leaning against Kara.

Kara snickered in amusement at both of them. They looked pretty much out of it.

"How much did you two drink anyway?" Kara asked, and shook her head.

"I don't know, mother, how much did we drink?" Donna asked and Kara glared back at her, hands on her hips.

"You know, your mother would kill you if she knew what you had been drinking," Kara said with a smile on her face.

With one sweeping motion, the blonde stepped over. She decided to nudge her way over to Harry's other side. As a result he was sandwiched between an Amazon and a Kryptonian and he was okay with that arrangement.

"Oh, that's good," Kara said, snuggling up tight against Harry with a smile on her face.

"What my mother doesn't know, won't hurt me," Donna said, shaking on wobbling legs.

"And what your sister finds out…..you know, you're not going to be able to fly that plane back in your state," Kara said.

Barbara frowned and had an inquiry that made sense in her state. "You know, aren't you worried about someone stealing the Invisible Jet?"

Harry's curiosity piqued because of this statement. "You have an invisible jet?"

"Donna's sister has one," Kara confirmed, with a wide grin on her face.

The young blonde could feel Harry's arm wrap around her, holding her up. Not that she needed it. she felt like resting her head down on his shoulder and milking this arrangement.

Harry smiled knowingly. "I see…."

"I'd let you see it, but you kind of can't, because you know, Invisible Jet, and stuff," Donna said and she looked up at the bright lights. There was a lot to do in Vegas. "So, now that we got booted out of the Casino, what do you want to do next?"

"Let's get married," Kara giggled.

Donna turned to Kara and frowned at her rather brazen statement.

"No, seriously, what do you want to do?" Donna asked with a smile.

"I was being serious," Kara said huffily, with arms folded and a scowl across her face.

"Actually that's not a bad idea," Barbara slurred and she held her balance to prevent herself from making a facep plant into the ground.

"Are you….to each other or to Harry?" Donna asked slowly.

She felt Harry's hand on her bare back, which sent shivers down her spine. That was actually something that she considered a good question and she couldn't really figure out the answer to it.

"Interesting question, what did you have in mind anyway?" Harry asked Kara and the blonde looked at him.

"Well to you, of course…..well if you would….you know," Kara said, a small part of her her wondered if this might just be a bit too sudden.

There was an even bigger part of her who told that smaller part of her to shut up. This part of her brain grew with strength when Harry tightened his arms around her and brought her into a smoldering kiss. The blonde's mind was assaulted with this molten hot kiss. Returning the kiss, once her brain returned to full boot up mood, she pulled away.

"Does that answer your question?" Harry asked. Barbara looked at him, corking an eyebrow.

She looked a bit tipsy, but not as much as Donna. This really should have told them something.

"Well, I think that Kara might need a second opinion."

Barbara was only half kidding when she said that. In seconds she felt a feeling of regret. Harry's arms locked around her, nearly dropping Donna who fell over with a nice little eep, and she landed hard onto the ground.

"You could have caught me," Donna protested to Kara but the blond smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, I could have," she agreed and could see Barbara get more of the same. The dark haired Amazon pulled herself to her feet. Donna frowned and gingerly rubbing her backside to bring some life back into it. Kara nudged Donna once Barbara stepped back in a daze. "So do you think that the second opinion was enough, or do you think that we're going to need to get a third opinion?"

"Third opinion, for sure," Donna replied and she threw herself into Harry's arms.

In response, he pulled her into a nice long kiss. The Amazon closed her eyes and felt his tongue push deep into her. His hands explored her body and she breathed heavily. Nipples hardened and her pussy ached the more he worked over her body.

If that didn't answer the question, when Harry pulled away, he wasn't sure what did.

"So, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

All things considered, Harry pulled off the wedding quite nicely. The girls were pleased with it and Harry was pleased with it.

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission for some things, at least that's what Martha told me," Kara whispered.

Donna caught something with this statement and she had a moment of clarity in a sea of drunken insanity.

"You know, your mother might not be too fond of you for doing what you did," Donna said and Kara raised her eyebrow. "I know, mine won't be either…but…"

"Why don't you sit down Harry, and we'll get ready," Barbara said and she looked over her shoulder.

She sobered up to the point where she wasn't able to fall flat on her face. That was good, she was pleased.

Kara smiled, she wondered what the point was to put on some lingerie, just to have it ripped off in the heat of passion. She figured it was more for the benefit of their new husband than anything. Donna looked to say the same thing but Barbara and Kara lead her into the bathroom across from them.

Harry would have to wait, the three girls picked up something special for tonight, but it was a surprise.

The door of the bathroom opened. An amazing sight greeted Harry when all three beauties exited the bathroom.

Kara wore a sheer white nightdress that allowed her nipples to show out on the other side. Harry smiled, looking over her alluring youthful frame. Her lacy white panties shimmered into the night light.

Barbara was wearing a black pair of bra and panties that looked fairly lacy and it showed off her body. She stepped forward and placed her hand on Harry's chest. She ran her hand down his chest in a slow and seductive manner.

Not to be undone, Donna sauntered out of the bathroom. The Amazon Princess only barely covered the bits that needed to be covered. She nudged Barbara off to the side and smiled. With one further swift motion, Donna wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. Leaning forward, she hungrily kissed him.

"Hey, no fair," Kara pouted.

Barbara gave Kara the evil eye in response. "You had your turn, just wait."

Barbara forced Kara to shut up with a blistering and hot kiss. The blonde relaxed into the embrace of the redhead, their tongues pushing together, trying to force dominance with each other.

Donna was off and Barbara stepped back and took her place on Harry's lap. Harry rested his hands underneath her taut ass cheeks, squeezing them. The redhead pressed her hot lips upon his. The fiery kiss heated up their passions. Tongues tried to dominate the other. Barbara tried to assault Harry's tonsils with her tongue and he returned the favor.

Kara and Donna indulged each other in their own tender passions with each other with Kara impatiently waiting for some of Harry.

When the group switched off with each other, Harry yanked Kara into a warm embrace. She eagerly took her place on his lap and her tongue pushed up against his. The two of them looked determined to dominate the other with this passionate kiss with each other. Harry lifted Kara's hands up and pinned them against her head.

She grinded against him. In the meantime, Donna and Barbara stripped Harry's clothes from his body, enjoying what he saw.

"Great Hera, he's sculpted like a god," Donna whispered.

"Surely a physique like that would be worthy of all of the goddesses," Barbara said, gazing upon his body in an appreciative manner.

"Well yes," Donna conceded, she was not going to lie, Barbara had her right there.

"I would have to agree," Harry said with a smile on his face. He responded by brushing his fingers against the legs of both girls and caused shivers of desire to fill their bodies.

"So, time to get to the good stuff."

* * *

"So…..that's what happened in a nutshell, might have skipped over a few bits, but you get the general idea," Donna concluded and both of the other girls smiled. "But even though my mother's likely to kill me, I think this could have been the best night ever."

"I would have to agree," Barbara said with a shifty little grin.

Harry finally got ahold of Karen and she answered immediately.

"Let me guess, you're married?" Karen asked and Harry smiled at her.

"How did you ever guess?" Harry asked her.

"History has this ability to repeat itself," Karen replied with a smile.

Something outside caused them to divert their attention.

"Great, Toyman, again, does that guy ever take a hint?" Kara asked.

Frantically she looked around for something.

"Here," Barbara said to her, handing her the bag. "I managed to find enough of our clothes…..and thankfully we didn't throw them all out of the window."

"Thankfully,' Kara said, but she did seem a little disappointed. "So, I guess it's time to suit up….."

"You better stay here, Harry….um no offense but…"

"Actually, I have a couple more surprises up my sleeve," Harry said swiftly.

Kara whistled. "Okay, fair enough."

It was time to head out on a brand new adventure, and to stop Toyman's plans, after he tried to start them up.

**To Be Continued on September 16****th****, 2014. **

* * *

**So not much to add other than flashback chapters can be really hit or miss, but I thought that there was a lot of fun interaction for this one. As I mentioned, this was supposed to be the first chapter of the story.**


	18. Chapter 18: Playtime

**Chapter Eighteen: Playtime. **

Someone with the name of Toyman would have to have a flair for the dramatics. That was something that Harry reminded himself. The man was crazed, but that shouldn't discount how dangerous that he was. Still, through said danger, he would attack and in style.

Okay, it wasn't as dramatic as the toy soldiers that he sent the previous day and obviously this was a warning of things to come. That being said, there was something foreboding about a toy Jack in the Box that was wheeled out in the middle of the Vegas, strip.

Things hit another level of menace when said toy Jack in the Box sounded like it was ticking. Time grinded by and it may have slowly ran out.

With Helena hitting a dead end, Harry found himself faced with not that many options. Kara dropped down right next to him, with Donna and Barbara following. The box whined and groaned when it rested next to him.

"It's a good morning here in Las Vegas, and all of you, you've been very naughty, some of you spending all of your paychecks, others cheating on your spouses!" Toyman sang in a jovial voice. Statements that hit too close to home for some people. "That's none of my concern. My concern is to take the naughtiest person of them out. And you know who you are, don't you? You've been a very bad boy and it's time for a spanking."

Harry hoped that he would keep talking because that would make it easier to take them.

"Still creepy," Kara said with a shudder.

Barbara swooped down and took a look at the Jack in the Box, and then gave her honest assessment of the situation. "It's more than a recording device…..and there might be a signal, it's pretty faint, but there might be one inside."

There could be a signal, faint as it was being said. It is hard to track. Barbara didn't care because that was the type of challenge that she thrived on. Nothing got her blood pumping even better than that.

"We're getting a signal," Barbara said, looking over her shoulder to her two sister wives, along with Harry. She almost was insulted about how easy this seemed at first. "Yeah, he's not really good at masking this."

"Yeah, he is," Kara said cringing. Schott might have been eccentric, kind of creepy, but there was one thing that he wasn't and that was an idiot. "Trust me when I say this, we could be walking into a trap."

Kara's warning fell on mostly deaf ears. Barbara looked over her shoulder and returned her gaze back onto the Jack in the Box.

"Um….I don't know….about that," Barbara said, nervously.

Now that Kara planted the idea in her head, the possibility struck her as very real.

"Better to walk into a trap that we know is sprung, then to walk somewhere where we don't know where we're going," Harry said.

Barbara raised her eyebrow in response. She supposed that she had a point. And he had been speaking from experience. That was another feeling she had.

"And there's a pretty good off chance that he's making us think that he's laying a trap," Kara said, frowning.

Kara didn't deal with Toyman too many times but she had ran into him more than once.

Especially given the caliber of person that he tried to kill, it was difficult to see why he had been let out of prison. For obvious reasons, Kara was not about to be sending any sympathy cards for the death of Lionel Luthor but still. The innocent people that were put in danger and that really pissed her off greatly.

"So, do you got anything?" Donna asked and she was getting nervous.

"There's a bomb in the Jack in the Box," Harry advised and Donna's head snapped downward, she could say that there was a pretty good reason why she became nervous then. The dark haired Amazon Princess responded with a labored.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Donna said, crossing her arms together and once again. The ticking of the clock grew more intense when she peered down.

"And now there isn't, because I disabled it," Barbara said, trying not to look too smug.

Smug happened to be her default state when she did something she was proud of.

"Oh excellent, way to go," Kara said with a smile and she would have done a dance if she had not been so bad at doing so. "Now any luck on the signal….."

"Ninety five percent complete…child's play really…..well then again some people are being either very sloppy or very crafty."

They would find out in a matter of moments, and Barbara found out that the tower was located in Las Vegas.

'_What are the coordinates?' _Harry asked, popping into Barbara's head, which caused the redhead to nearly jump halfway off of the ground.

Harry casually caught her in his arms, much to the thinly veiled amusement of Donna and Kara.

'_Wait…..are you talking to me in my head or am I finally going insane?' _Barbara thought, shaking the cobwebs off at the sudden intruder that entered her mind.

'_Little of both, Barbara, a little of both,' _Donna said, unable to keep the grin off of her face.

She realized that she had access to the mental network, which was kind of cool. It was the one thing that anyone couldn't tap into. The only person who might be able to do so would have to be an extremely strong telepath. Those types of people, Donna had her doubts about their abilities to do so.

Harry might just be that strong.

'_You know, maybe I should have told you girls about this before I bombarded you mentally,' _Harry thought, with an apologetic grin attached to his face.

'_Yeah, that might have been a good idea,' _Kara said barely able to keep back the next round of laughter from coming to her.

The quartet approached a large transmitting tower with the utmost of caution and care. This was exactly where the signal was traced. So they were on pins and needles to ensure they had been lead right.

There was laughter coming from inside the tower, which was never a good sign. That being said, Kara grabbed onto the door and ripped it open, seamlessly if it was tissue paper.

There was a Toyman that was sitting with his back turned away from them all. His head bobbed up and down in a mechanical fashion.

"Okay, Toyman, the game is over!" Kara yelled and Donna and Barbara looked at Kara like she grew two heads. "Okay, it sounded much better in my head….but seriously, you better give up."

"I think that you don't understand the rules, and don't understand…" Toyman said and the chair spun around, with a blinking clock being shown in his eyes. "That I'm in control."

Kara backed off and her mouth hung open. "It's a bomb!"

"Obvious statement is obvious," Barbara said and Harry sent a wave of energy from his suit.

The Toyman statue toppled over and the bomb was disabled. He stepped back, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"There might be some kind of clue here that could point us in the real direction."

Kara smiled but then the doors opened. She was on a hair trigger and she nervously saw someone approaching. After what happened, she was not taking chance. She never had been the person to ask too many questions.

She could see the person approaching, and stopped, she looked just like her, well with a few differences. For one, she was about a head taller and Kara was a pretty tall girl in her own right. This woman swooped down on Kara. Her hair was a little bit shorter, and her body was a bit more mature, with her heaving breasts contained in her tight white costume.

"Supergirl, meet Power Girl," Harry said.

The two girls meeting together caused Harry to be unable to keep the wide grin off of his face when he saw both of them looking each other over.

"Um, hi," Kara said, and she felt intimidated standing in the presence of her larger than life older counterpart.

Kara flushed when she caught herself looking at her older counterpart's breasts. They were so big, but were they real? Pretty sure that they were extremely real, but one could never be too sure about something like that. She had to get one other tiny look, just to make sure.

* * *

Karen turned up, she just missed Harry. The Jack in the Box in the middle of the street was taken care of and a brief mental prod from Harry pushed her into the right direction.

The doors were already opened. No signs of chaos were present just yet That kind of disappointed Karen to be honest, she was hoping for some brutality and violence. But that just goes to show you, you can't get what you want in life all of the time.

The blonde increased her fairly quick strides and she came face to face with a younger version of herself but there were a few differences. For one, she had longer hair, but the same bright blue eyes were presence. She also had a smaller set of breasts, and she wore a blue top that looked rather homemade with the prominent Red "S" on it. A red flowing skirt and a pair of red cowboy boots topped off the outfit.

"Supergirl, meet Power Girl," Harry said, with a smile on his face.

"Um hi."

Karen smiled, looking at the younger version, who she referred to as Kara in her head, because Harry was the only one who called her Kara now. In fact, she even referred to herself as Karen, because she became the mask of Karen Starr.

The blonde cleared her throat when she saw that the younger blonde was staring at her chest. Granted, that wasn't the first time that she caught someone doing that and no it wasn't the first time that she caught another female taking a peak at the girls either.

"So…I guess you're an older version of me," Kara answered with a smile on her face.

"I believe introductions are in order," Barbara said.

Right now she was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, and a pair of tight leather pants, but she had enough of the equipment to function properly. Her other costume was left behind in Gotham City, but she managed to have the foresight to pack half of the equipment.

"Given that you're going to be sharing a bed with Harry and I, we should get an introduction with each other," Karen said and Kara smiled.

She wondered if having relations with an older version of herself would be incest or masturbation. She would have to settle with just being plain hot. Actually it was plain hot no matter how you sliced it.

"Right, I'm Kara Kent….born Kara Zor-El of Krypton, but you already knew that I think," Kara said with a smile. Karen judged that she was about sixteen, maybe seventeen years old; she hadn't hit her growth spurt just yet.

"I think that I just missed you," Karen said with a smile.

"Came to Earth about six months ago, my stasis pod was floating about one of the colonies of Argo…..my mother and I….in fact…."

"Wait, your mother….our mother….she's alive…..?" Karen asked, this was news that surprised her.

She was floored by this news and wanted to know for sure.

"Well, she's in stasis, my cousin just got there in time," Kara said with a smile on her face and she sighed at the thought of it. "Another few days and her pod would have failed as well…good thing my distress signal was finally picked up in time for the both of us."

Harry thought that he should have picked up that Distress signal. The satellites weren't up until a couple of months ago, so it should have been obvious why they didn't. It was unfortunate but Kara was here now and that was all that mattered.

"I have a cousin?"

"Yes, we can talk about families later, in case you didn't notice, we do have a problem," Barbara said, not wanting to sound so rude but at the same time, she wanted to get to the matter at hand. The nineteen year old girl, one of the youngest graduates at GCU, smiled and turned to Karen. "I'm Barbara Gordon…."

'_Really, well that's interested,' _Helena thought, an older version of Barbara Gordon disappeared back home and it was interesting to run into the teenage version of her here.

That being said she had to focus on the investigation. There was a lot of parts to it that she needed to run on through.

And the Amazon who looked to be about eighteen years smiled. "And I'm Donna Troy."

"Now that we've got that all out of the way, back to Toyman," Kara said anxiously.

She would have to have a nice conversation with her older self later about a few things but that could wait. When a madman ran about the city, she didn't have time for such pleasantries.

"He never does anything easy, does he?" Karan asked and Kara sighed.

"No, he doesn't but…..it's all a game for him, and the prize is going to be the lives of innocenet people if we don't put a stop to this," Kara said, and Harry placed a hand on her shoulder with a smile.

"We're going to put a stop to this I believe…"

'_I have something,' _Helena chimed suddenly. _'Meet me at these coordinates….'_

'_Um no offense, but who exactly are you?' _Barbara asked and she folded her arms across her chest.

Barbara supposed that she would have to get used to people that she might have never met popping into her head. Someone like Harry would pick up an army of wives.

'_Helena Wayne,' _Helena said in a stoic voice with the other five making their way out to meet her.

'_Oh, Helena Wayne any relation to…..' _Barbara thought but then she stopped when she realized what she was saying. _'Alternate universe, yeah I know, I know.'_

'_So, she's another wife?' _Donna asked. There was a lot of confirmation though the bond link. _'So are there more than us five or are there….'_

That question would have to go unanswered, at least for now, when they were going to meet Helena.

Most annoyingly, Toyman was right under their noses the entire time. It was funny. Sometimes a lot of things went full circle and this little caper was far from the only thing that did.

* * *

"So, this is the place," Kara said, it looked like a giant doll house. She scoffed in a critical manner when she looked it over. "I always knew that there was something a bit off about him."

"Off or not, he's fairly dangerous," Barbara said, and she could see the front entrance dead ahead, but that would have sensors are over it. And after a quick scan, that belief was confirmed. "Oh this is wonderful."

It was packed with sensors and to get it would take a miracle.

"Yes, it is," Harry agreed, but there were many ways in.

All one had to do was find a creative way inside or let the villain overplay his hand. The villain overplaying his hand works rather well.

Toyman's voice thundered over the loud speaker. "You know, I didn't want to drag too many people into my game, but if you're going to insist…..I'm going to have to make some new rules to ensure that this is a game that you never forget."

His laughter sounded like nails dragged across a chalkboard. The troops came marching in and Harry looked at them, and sighed.

'_Well this is going to be something,' _Harry thought to himself.

The footsteps of toy soldiers exited and they closed in on the group.

"And here's some bad news," Barbara said and Donna turned towards her friend and sighed. "Yeah I know, bad news, it's always bad news, we could never have good news for a change but this thing…"

"Triggered to explode," Huntress said, and she backed off, trying to find the signal. "And I think that if we don't disable them in the right order…"

"Everything goes boom, very good, you get the rules to the game!" Toyman cackled. "I might not get Luthor, but I'll get my revenge on you for disrupting my game."

"Okay, we have one shot, we better make it count," Power Girl said and she turned towards Supergirl who nodded in response. Homemade costume or not, she was pretty sharp and quick witted.

Just like her, and Karen really had to smile about that, watching Kara scan the energy fields.

"Third one to the right, then the second one, then the one to the back, and then the first one," Helena said helpfully. "And then the two side by side right there."

"A rather weird order," Karen said and Helena shrugged.

It went without saying that they were dealing with an extremely weird guy though.

"No, no, no, this can't be happening," Toyman said with Arcane waving his hand and the toy soldiers along with the explosives that they had were disabled.

"Look out!" Donna yelled, seeing cannons retract from the walls and start firing at them.

The Amazon closed her eyes, and dodged the fire, before they hit the ground. Ducking her head, she pointed towards Kara, who smiled and shifted. Her eyes squinted and fired a blast of the heat vision at the ready.

"I've got this one!" Kara said, frying the cannons one at a time and what one she didn't fry. Barbara caught with a projectile that launched through the air and struck the cannon with a huge impact.

"Amazing shot," Donna said to Barbara and Barbara tried not to look pretty pleased with herself.

It was time to knock down the door and pay their respects to their enemy.

"You know, I don't like this game, let's play a new one! Who's up for a little bit of dodgeball?"

Barbara groaned, she really, really hated dodge ball, especially this kind of dodge ball with the red balls shooting out of the cannons on the wall. They hit the ground and blew miniature holes from the ground. The explosive kind she hated that much more.

"This is getting kind of old," Donna said, getting knocked back but she bounced off of the wall and Harry grabbed her. She graciously smiled and sat up.

Harry could see the launcher firing the big heavy balls out and turned towards Karen, who noticed it as well. Helena slipped back into the shadows somewhere. That was not really something that he could worry about right now. He flicked his wrist and impacted the large dodge ball launcher, causing sparks to fly in every single direction.

With it taken out like that, Harry was at ease and Toyman slammed his hand on the console when his little machine broke.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he yelled, and he picked up a large cone and hurled it at the window but it bounced off. "That's not fair, you cheated, you cheated, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF CHEATERS!"

"I think someone is upset," Harry whispered to Karen but he did want to know where Helena went off to.

"Let's see, self destruct sequence…"

Suddenly Huntress popped out of the shadows and grabbed Toyman by the wrist, forcing him back. His wrist cracked with Huntress pushing it back and forcing it down onto the table with a huge thud.

"I don't think so," she said and Toyman backed off, and tried to get away.

He activated a jet pack on his person and shot up, up, and away. He scrambled through the nearest exit in his attempt to get away.

Suddenly, his jetpack failed before he could even clear the hideout and it exploded before he could escape.

"Um, ouch," Donna said, looking at Toyman with wide eyes.

It was obvious that didn't end too well for him. Most interestingly, it was because of his own stupidity that he seemingly got himself blown to smithereens.

'_So, I guess that's the end of that,' _Kara thought, grimacing, that was not one of the finer moments of a super villain. Obviously the jet pack was defective. Donna and Barbara turned towards her, and Helena, Harry, and Karen did the same. _'Right, that's got be the end of that I mean…..there's…..'_

Kara stopped herself, before she embarrassed herself. She did not want to say that there should be no way that he would have survived that because she had more sense than that. She knew better.

* * *

There was a hard and fast rule that Harry learned numerous times and that was if there was no body, then there was no guaranteed death. And even if you found a person's body, you would still have your doubts that something was up.

Well Harry had more than a few doubts about Toyman and he disappeared into the night.

"Okay, I want to know who equipped him with military grade technology," Barbara said and she turned towards her fellow sister wives and husband. She was sure that was a question that ran in all of their minds. "Because, I don't care how well off someone like that is…..that kind of stuff doesn't come easy."

"Toyman was some kook that was working out of a basement…..and now he's set up with all kinds of technology," Kara said and she frowned, with Harry looking things over.

"The Jetpack was made to fail," Harry said, coming to the grimmest conclusion that he could potentially could and the girls looked at him in curiously. "But someone would have to be playing a sick game…..let's see what the computer systems are like…."

"On it," Barbara said and her eyes brightened and she resembled a kid on Christmas morning. There might be something on their incriminating that she could find to bring the Toyman down and Harry smiled. She didn't really see it because when she hacked, she was in her own little world.

That being said, this had her baffled, the deeper that she dug into the computer system, the more that she didn't find. It was to the point where she wanted to sigh.

"Guess he's not as careless as we hoped he was."

Kara looked around, seeing one of the weapons that had not been equipped to the toy soldier and she lifted it up. The blonde stepped back and examined it. It couldn't be, but yet it was. "What….this doesn't make any sense?"

Harry gave her a shadow of a smile. "I've found that when something makes little sense, it makes perfect sense more often than we think it does."

"Well things thing right here, it makes no sense, I've seen pictures of weapons like this, they're issued to the Military, which you all know," Kara said and Huntress bent over, looking at the weapon.

"And they're issued to the military from LuthorCorp," Helena said and Kara nodded in response, she didn't really know what was going on here.

Other than the obvious fact that she didn't like what was going on here, but that much was really obvious.

"Well…..the plot thickens," Harry said crisply and he was running through a number of theories in his head, from the outlandish to the somewhat plausible. And there were also a few theories that were so insane that they had to be true. "I don't really know what to say here."

"What, you don't think that Luthor masterminded the attack of his own company to drum up some positive press, do you?" Karen asked but then she thought about that. That actually didn't completely fail the "BS" test in the back of her mind. She honestly didn't know what to believe now.

"Hmm, I don't know," Harry admitted, that was really possible, but was it probable. He didn't really know and he kept racking his brain for alternate theories. "I'm going to make a phone call, could the five you look around….."

"Yeah, I'll see if I can find a backdoor here," Barbara said but then she stopped when she noticed a nasty defense. "Oooh, that's kind of clever, and nasty too."

"What is it?" Donna asked, brimming with curiosity and she placed her hands on the back of Barbara's chair.

"There's a nasty little worm program, that will wreck the files of anyone who gets in there and by wreck, I mean absolutely wreck, and also send e-mails to everyone in their contact list and wreck their computers and then…..well I'm pretty sure that you can figure out the chain," Barbara explained without taking a breath.

She was glad that she was working with a clean device that was not hooked to any contacts. That being said, even with a good firewall there was no guarantee that they could block anything.

"Yikes, I see your point," Kara said, she could see Barbara bring up the layout of the program.

"And that's not all, this bad boy consumes anything that is on the computer, it's kind of like the cyber equivalent of flushing your drugs down the toilet," Barbara said and Kara placed her hands on the back of Barbara's chair and sighed.

"Interesting analogy," she commented but she would have to go with it.

"But accurate?" Barbara asked and Kara nodded. The blonde bit down on her lip in absolute frustration once again.

"Very accurate I'm afraid," Kara commented and she crossed her arms over her chest when she looked at the computer. "So, what do you think?"

They waited for Harry to return, whatever phone call he was making, it was taking an extremely long time.

"LuthorCorp, they would do something like this," Karen said and she turned Helena, but she left to go see what Harry was up to.

That being said, there was really no reason to go and meet with him because he made his way up the stairs. The dark haired crime fighter met Harry's gaze when he marched up the stairs.

"My contact says that she'll look into things but it may take a lot of time," Harry said and Barbara frowned.

"This system is dead…..I did manage to get an address…let me punch that it," Barbara said and she frowned. She checked to make sure she didn't leave any stone overturned. "It was a warehouse, belonged to some guy named Mannheim; I don't know anything about it."

"Well you're going to have to dig deeper, because that's what you do, won't you?" Kara asked, giving Barbara an encouraging smile which she returned.

"I'll see how dig I can deep," Barbara muttered underneath her breath but she wasn't really taking many chances. There were a couple of things that she could do and she did have a friend based out of Metropolis that she would have to touch base with.

"So, now the three of you are part of this…and I'm guessing that you went into Vegas without any permission."

"Hey….." Kara said but Karen cut her off.

"It's not up to me to give you a lecture or punish you….the punishment part is Harry's job, now that you're officially married to him," Karen said with a suggestive smile.

Kara's face turned red at the thought of what her new husband could do to her. She breathed, the thought of what he could do to her was extremely tantalizing to say the very least and the blonde stepped back, nervously looking on.

"We aren't here with permission no, and I took my sister's invisible jet," Donna said and Helena turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. "I know, my sister has an invisible jet, people tend not to believe that, I don't know why."

Donna felt like she was being X-Rayed, maybe because she was. Honestly, the Amazon Princess didn't know that well. That being said, she backed off, her arms folded over her chest and she wondered what would happen next.

"So, back to the hotel room, I guess?" Kara asked and Harry smiled.

"We've got a lot to discuss, you know," Harry said and Kara grinned.

"Most people wait until before they're married to drop the heavy secrets…..yeah I know I have room to talk," Kara said, burning under her older self's gaze.

That was something that she didn't expect to experience. What a day she had anyway.

"As you know, we're not most people," Harry told her and the blonde sighed, she wouldn't disagree with that.

That being said, they all knew what would come next and it was a wonder someone, between the three of them, didn't come down to Vegas to track them down.

Perhaps they shouldn't breathe too easily just yet.

* * *

"So, I think that this was a pretty good trip, all things considered," Kara said in amusement when she made her way up the stairs. "I guess…..though we got to admit what happened…..we had some fun and some consequences…"

"And there isn't any way to get this annulled is there?" Barbara asked and Karen smiled.

"Only if you hadn't slept with Harry, but when that happened, a magical marriage is pretty binding," Karen told her and the redhead whistled. "You don't regret it."

"I regret the lecture that I might get….because I should have known better," Barbara said with a sigh. She let Kara and Donna talk her into this but they didn't really put a gun to her head and make her go. "But the actual act, no I don't regret it."

She might think twice if Harry was bad but he was good. There's a refresher course that she would need to take right now.

Donna opened up the door and then she blinked.

'_Oh shit,' _she thought but she didn't say it out loud.

Kara on the other hand, didn't have such tact. "Well, Donna, you're boned."

"And not in the good way," Barbara muttered but she should have known that one of them would have gotten busted.

And it was by the person whose invisible jet they borrowed. A tall Amazon woman with dark hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black top and blue jeans, wearing bracelets sitting on the bed stared down at them. Her foot dangled and her eyes glared down at them.

"Hi, Diana," Donna said in a small voice, trying to hold onto her bravado but she was failing.

She could see an unpleasant talk coming.

**To Be Continued on September 19****th****, 2014. **

_Someone is busted!_

_In all seriousness, some huge plots are going down in this chapter. I won't say much more about that, but there is some serious long term shit being built up. _

_So someone asked about the ages of various characters. Keep in mind that this is an estimation. I think that the Harry/Karen/Helena trio may have gotten de-aged slightly when they crossed universes. _

_Harry Potter: Almost 21. _

_Karen Starr-Potter/Power Girl: 21._

_Helena Potter/Huntress: 25. _

_Patricia Swann: 26. _

_Barbara Gordon-Potter/Batgirl: 18_

_Kara Zor-El/Kara Potter/Supergirl: 17_

_Donna Troy-Potter/Wondergirl: 17(Well, There's that Tricky Amazon Aging Thing But She's 17 for all intents and purposes)._

_Diana Prince/Wonder Woman: 21. (See Donna.) _

_Lana Lang: 21._

_Lois Lane: 22. _

_Alexandra Potter: 11. _

_So next chapter shall be interesting. _

_See you for the conclusion on the date above. _


	19. Busted In More Ways Than One

**Chapter Nineteen: Busted In More Ways Than One.**

* * *

Donna was in deep shit right now and she knew it, big time. Her sister's eyes burned into her. She didn't think that she could be in a worst predicament if she would have tried. And she knew from experience that she had tried. Diana's arms folded underneath her chest and she looked at Donna. This look was so intimidating that even Barbara and Kara took half of a step back, even though Diana technically had no authority over them.

Both could agree that their best friend and sister was in very deep shit. Extremely deep shit, so much she waded in it.

"So," Diana said in a calm voice and Donna felt herself wilt a little bit. At least for a second, until she stood up and looked Diana firmly in the eye. "What in the name of Hera were you thinking?"

Donna wasn't going down with a fight.

"I can't believe you!"

Diana's sharp look met Donna's eyes. "What….what exactly can't you believe?"

"Come on, you know…..you get to go to Man's World all of the time, without someone watching over you…and you don't get any static over it," Donna said, knowing that she was on some extremely shaky ground with the entire hijacking of the Invisible Jet thing.

It was a wonder that Diana didn't scream herself hoarse. She settled for staring her sister down and once again Donna took only a half of a step back. She tried not to be intimidated, even though she realized that she'd be in deeper trouble when her mother found out.

"Yes, and it took me a while to earn that right," Diana said, getting the responsibilities she did, didn't come easily. She had to slowly work on her mother for weeks, months, what seemed like an extremely long time. And even then she had to appeal to the goddesses. Talk about your jumping through hoops with that one. "And by the standards of Amazon, you are merely just a child…"

"I'm not a child, I'm a grown woman," Donna said, and she balled her fists up.

She took a deep breath, breathed in and out. She had to calm down.

Diana slowly rose to her feet and she was a whole head taller than Donna, who wasn't short by any means. Donna wondered if she pushed thing too far but by this point, she didn't really care.

If it came to a fight, well Donna didn't much fancy her chances against her older sister. Every time she fought Diana in combat, she got her ass kicked, no two ways about it. She did a little bit better sometimes.

"A grown woman wouldn't have stolen a jet to fly halfway around the world," Diana said, mentally counting to a hundred and preying to Hera to give her strength to deal with this. And if a few other goddesses wanted to pitch in with a little help, Diana wouldn't be too opposed to that as well. "Just what were you thinking anyway?"

Donna calmed down enough to properly face her sister.

"I…I might not have been thinking, I admit that," Donna said, but her arms folded across her chest firmly.

Donna readied herself for a fight, even though she knew going against Diana might not end all that well for her. The glaring look her sister was giving her sent shivers down her spine.

"At least you admit that," Diana said.

"But, you would have left the island, if you had a chance when my age, and don't try to tell me you wouldn't either," Donna countered, scowling at her sister and daring her to question.

Diana wasn't about to admit her sister had a point. She wondered if how Donna was acting was some kind of twisted form of karma for how she acted at a young age. All sorts of things she got up to "Maybe I wouldn't, but that's not the point…"

"I think the real point is that you're just jealous that you didn't get invited," Donna said and Diana's exasperated look fixed on her sister.

She wouldn't dare to admit that prospect maybe had the tiniest amount of truth. That wasn't really the point though.

Barbara and Kara followed the progress. Amusement danced through the eyes of both girls. It was like watching some kind of demented tennis match, and it was hard to really tell who was coming out ahead. It was more entertaining than anything on television though.

Harry watched closely, he hoped that he really didn't need to step in. The hot tempers of both Amazons showed that hope might be misplaced. So he prepared to close ranks if worse came to worse.

"You got married, didn't you?" Diana asked, noticing the ring on Donna's finger and Donna shifted nervously, mentally weighing her options in her mind. "You went to Vegas, and you dragged Kara and Barbara along, and got married."

"Now, Kara was willing to go, in fact it was her….."

"Donna, you chose to go, unless someone put a sword to your throat," Diana said, she expected more from her sister. Even though she almost wondered why.

Technically Donna was the most long lived of the three, even though Barbara was the most mature of the three. Kara, being new to Earth customs, she was kind of wild and untamed.

"Well, you're just jealous….that you didn't get laid."

Harry didn't say anything but that was kind of low.

'_And she goes to the throat,' _Karen thought, she and Helena had remained quiet like the rest, waiting for this to play out. This was more entertaining than anything on television.

"Oh, really?" Diana asked, looking at her. She glared at Donna and the slowest realization hit the younger Amazon she said way too much. "That's…..that's not the point to begin with."

Barbara and Kara looked and Harry was about to step in but Karen shook her head. She figured she might be able to deal with this.

'_Oh boy, this won't end well….look Harry, why don't you go, so I can try and smooth things over,' _Karen thought to him and Harry looked and turned to Helena.

'_Yeah that might be for the best,' _Harry agreed and his dark haired wife nodded. She looked towards the door. _'So, we should investigate that lead you had earlier.'_

"I hate to interrupt," Harry said and suddenly both Amazons looked at him, with Diana noticing him for the first time.

She had been so preoccupied with Donna that she did not notice him until he spoke up. That was quite the grievous oversight on her part.

Once he was sure that Diana had his full and undivided attention, Harry continued. "But…..it seems like you two have something to hash out with each other, and I'd just be out of the way."

"So, you're the one who she married," Diana said with a sheepish smile. "My sister and I need to have a talk right now and…well…I'm sure that…"

"Perhaps the two of us can talk together, figure out what we can do," Karen said with a nudge towards Diana and Donna was looking from Harry to Diana curiously.

She really had no idea and after stealing a quick look from Kara and Barbara, she figured they didn't really know either.

"We'll touch base when we wrap up things," Helena said to Karen and Karen turned to explain to Diana what happened.

She knew a bit about what was happening in Vegas, and the attacks by Toyman, half of the reason why she was so upset with what Donna pulled. Her younger sister could have put herself in danger. Even though she was well trained, was it a crime to be concerned?

* * *

"Okay, if anyone knows what might be going on, it's this guy," Helena said and she turned towards Harry. "His name is Snitch."

"His parents must have set him up for a life of an obvious squealer than," Harry said with a grin.

Helena shook her head at her husband. She knew that he was being facetious.

"Obvious codename," she reminded him and Harry smiled. She realized that she had been had and he knew that.

The dark haired Wayne heiress turned around, and walked forward into the warehouse and she could see him lurking around in the shadows.

She frowned, he wasn't making it easy. With acrobatic flurry, the Huntress removed a staff from her outfit and then slammed it through a curtain. She hit something and was glad that she did.

The staff latched onto the coat sleeve of a weedy looking man, who was pulled out. He looked like your average office geek but the problem was he didn't look that he showered for days.

"So, you're Snitch," Arcane said taking in his ragged form with his eyes.

"Who wants to know…"

"The trail lead to you, you were sending a messages to Toyman, both you and Mannheim," Harry said to the snitch named Snitch.

"No, no, no, I was merely selling Toyman information of when Luthor would be in Vegas….but he had to send someone else, and he ruined in and the Toyman…..well he sold the Toyman some faulty products, didn't he?" Snitch asked and he knew a lot more about this than he was saying.

His attempts to disguise it underneath incoherent babbling were not lost.

"Toyman bought the military grade weaponry from this Mannheim guy, didn't he?" Helena asked and suddenly Snitch gave a startled gasp when he was hanging upside down, swinging like a pendulum.

"No, no, no, not buying, he was selling, selling, he already bought them, someone calls himself the Penguin, he was a gangster from London, just moved over to Gotham City, Toyman was buying the items, taking a few for himself, and he was selling them to Mannheim at a premium," Snitch babbled. What little bravado he had was lost by Huntress dangling him upset down like a piece of meat.

"Oh, he was selling them, wasn't he?" Huntress asked, her voice oddly calm or at least calmer than it would have.

The pigeon started to sing even more.

"Yes, yes, he was selling them at a premium, at top dollar even," Snitch whimpered. "Mannheim's working with Morgan Edge, and with Intergang, and there's a rumor around Metropolis that Mannheim made a deal with the devil to get some weapons that would allow them to match the Blur."

"Do you know anything about the Blur?" Harry asked, he had his own suspicions but he wanted to know through the grapevine.

"Well, whoever it is, they move pretty fast, the camera's can't really pick them up, you see," Snitch said and his hand quivered again. "And you know…..a lot of people think it's some type of government conspiracy, you know big brother is always watching out for them and all of that shit…..but I guess we're never going to know. I mean, the dame doesn't stop long enough to talk to anyone."

Harry had his suspicions about the Blur and this was confirming them slowly.

"Wait, so it's most certainly a woman…"

"It is, haven't you read the papers?" Snitch asked and Harry did.

"What do you know about the Penguin?" Helena asked, she knew who the man was in her world but given that this was a different universe.

She didn't want to rely on too much foreknowledge because it could get her in trouble. Especially when said knowledge was wrong, that would be an extremely bad thing.

"Don't know much of anything, except he seems to be able to get his hands on anything, as long as the price is right, you got the scratch, and he'll cash out, he will," Snitch whispered, and he almost looked almost anxious, almost like he was going to be shot by speaking out like it. "But….."

"Yes?" Helena asked, and he opened his mouth and closed it. "Tell us, if you know anything."

"Well, he's making a deal with Zucco….you know Fat Tony, he's Maroni's boy, and Maroni's trying to muscle in on the Roman's territory….not that you'll be the scariest thing to come down there, because…..there's a demon that's been terrorizing the mob, I about bet you anything someone's been fucking with the occult," Snitch said and Arcane raised an eyebrow. "And they got more than they bargained for."

"A demon?"

"Yeah, they say that he looks like a giant Bat, I haven't seen him, Falcone's brat was a whimpering wreck after he ran into the demon, I mean, you thought that he would have wet his pants," Snitch said but he lowered his voice. "Don't tell the Roman that I said anything, he'd fit me with a pair of cement shoes and pants to match."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of snitching on someone who calls himself snitch," Harry said dryly. "Oh, and…..you can hang around for a while, I'm sure someone will cut you down…"

Harry doubted very much Mannheim was using this warehouse now, and all roads lead to the Penguin.

"In my world, the Penguin was a foul bird named Oswald Cobblepot," Helena whispered to Harry and his interest was grabbed.

"The same Oswald Cobblepot who is the owner of the Iceberg Lounge?" Harry asked her and Helena nodded in confirmation.

'_Well, I explained things to Diana, the good news is that she doesn't blame you for it, which really is interestingly contrary to some of the stories that you'd get about the Amazons,' _Karen said and Harry smiled.

'_Those stories were written by men, who got spurned by them, and they took it out on the Amazons,' _Harry thought and Karen frowned and slowly nodded.

'_Fair enough,' _she thought in response, shaking her head. Jilted people really colored a lot of the parts of history. _'So, what are you going to do?'_

'_Does she want to talk to me?' _Harry asked and Karen paused, checking with Diana who was there in the room with her.

'_Yes, she does,' _Karen answered with a smile on her face.

'_I'll finish up here, you should go and speak with her,' _Helena suggested and Harry decided to do just as his wife suggested to him.

* * *

Donna was not too happy about the fact that her older sister was going to meet her new cousin, if nothing else for the embarrassment factor of the situation.

Diana on the other hand, might have been amused by her sister's begging and pleading, if the situation didn't get too serious.

"Diana, please….you don't have to do this, I'll do anything, anything," Donna said and she grabbed Diana by the wrist.

"I don't blame Harry for this, if that's what you're worried about," Diana told her coolly but Donna's worry was only somewhat pacified. "But…"

"I just….it's complicated," Donna said, she didn't feel it was a good idea to beg her sister not to embarrass her right here and now. She already danced on thin ice enough as it is.

"Well, you made this situation complicated, and now I'm going to have to explain this to our mother," Diana said and she gave her sister a warning. "And since you're a grown woman….legally thanks to your marriage, the consequences of breaking the rule of the goddesses will be your cross to bare."

Donna gulped. That was one part that she didn't forget.

"What consequences?" Kara whispered to her, she never saw Donna look so dire and it was really kind of freaking her out to be honest.

"Those who get married without the blessing of the goddesses may be banished from the island….I didn't do it on purpose," Donna said and Barbara nudged her, reminding her of something.

"Harry asked you if you were sure eight times…"

"I know that!" Donna yelled looking rather mortified.

She cupped her hands over her face and sighed. This situation was more than bad enough as it is without her two best friends making it worse.

"What's done is done, I guess," Diana said, but she hoped that her sister would be shown mercy due to the circumstances. Her mother told her some stories, as a warning of what might happened.

The only solace she had, it did take some extreme circumstances for women to get banished from the island.

'_Oh Hera give me strength,' _Diana thought but she got grim amusement by the fact she may have to appeal to multiple goddesses to get the strength she needed.

Then there was the Invisible Jet thing, Diana hadn't technically cleared that with her mother. It would be a hard time explaining why she wanted it to her mother, given that she had the ability to fly.

The door swung open and Donna crossed her arms and sighed, she looked like she was waiting on death row for something to happen.

"Diana, I didn't really get a chance to talk to you, Donna has told me about you."

Diana knew because of the nature of sibling rivalry that things could get exaggerated really quick. She looked from Donna who looked back at her, not even blinking.

With that, she slowly turned towards Harry, with a frown crossing her face. "What kind of things?"

"Good things, I can assure you," Harry said, exchanging a knowing smile with Diana.

Donna's eyes looked from her sister to her new husband. Perhaps it was just her imagination but there was far more to this exchange than met the eye.

"There's a nice café downstairs," Harry continued. "If you want to use it to talk about what happened…."

"That would be nice," Diana agreed, after the trip that she had, she needed something to eat to calm her nerves.

Harry led the way, allowing her to leave first. Before he left, Harry gave Donna a reassuring smile, but the younger Amazon sister didn't see it. That was because she took her head and buried it firmly into her hands.

Kara smiled, leaning over, and she patted Donna on the back once more. The Amazon princess shifted against where she sat.

"It's going to be fine," Kara told her and Donna turned towards her slowly, giving her the evil eye.

"Is it?" Donna asked quietly and Kara smiled.

"Trust me," Kara said with a smile on her face and then she turned towards Barbara. "So, what are you going to do when your father finds out about this?"

"Deal with it," Barbara said in a swift voice, she wasn't going to let Kara rattle her, even though her father finding out something like this, well she didn't even know how to describe it. But she would not let it get her down. "What about Martha?"

Kara's amused expression faltered but she shrugged. "Well I'm just staying there….I'm more worried about my cousin….overreacting….."

"You mean the B….."

Kara clapped her hand over Barbara's mouth to shut her up. It might have been too little, too late. She could see Karen and Helena looking at them, and the way they were looking at them was not making them feel much better.

Then again Donna didn't really care about that, she was trapped in her own little bubble, worrying, wondering what Diana and Harry would be telling each other. Her horror might have just begun to be honest. Perhaps she overblew things in her mind, but something told her that she wasn't.

"It's going to be alright, Donna," Kara told her friend and Donna sighed, she had an interesting perspective about what being alright was going to be.

"Harry has given us the go ahead, we'll go back to Metropolis, and I'm sure that we'll figure out now to proceed from there," Karen said to both Kara and Barbara.

Karen figured that the return flight would give them enough time to think precisely how they were going to deal with this problem.

"So, how did you get here?" Kara asked but suddenly, there was a redhead who was at the door and Kara recognized her immediately. "Lana?"

"Kara, what are you doing here, does Martha know that you're here?" Lana asked and Kara got up to her feet, looking at her cousin's old friend.

"No," Kara said, and Lana sighed, with Karen and Helena taking Lana off to the side to explain this lovely situation to her.

Lana gave a long sigh when they finished. She almost expected something like that happened and was really disappointed she didn't get to be a part of it.

"So, Harry got married….to these three…you know we might have to avoid all future trips to Vegas," Lana said in a half joking manner and Karen shrugged in response.

"The more, the merrier," Karen suggested and Lana gave a long sigh.

She didn't know whether she should be amused by the entire situation or kind of disappointed that she missed the trip. She settled for a combination of the two. That was the happy medium as far as she was concerned.

* * *

"You know, there are far worse people for Donna to run into on a trip to Vegas than you," Diana said, she was sitting across from Harry in a private booth in the Café. No one could disturb them, and Diana had gotten her fair share of looks from the men, some of them had a couple of drinks.

Which a year or so ago, she would have wanted to break their jaw but as of right now, she really didn't care, because it was just background noise to her at this point. That was just one of the things that she had to deal with.

"I'm glad that I'm considered to be harmless," Harry said with a smile, sipping on the coffee. He surveyed Diana for a second. "So, I have to ask you a question."

"You may," Diana said, wondering about what he would ask.

"Are you upset about Donna going to Vegas, or jealous about the fact that you weren't invited?" Harry asked her.

Diana dropped the cup of coffee that she was drinking very nearly but she held onto it, and maintained her composure. It was a very near miss though.

Despite her initial shock, Diana remained coherent. "The truth is, I freaked out when the Jet was gone…..because my mother doesn't really know about it. You just know how fun it's going to be explaining that to her…..even though I'm a grown woman and I think that I can handle owning an Invisible Jet."

"Of course, it's almost a requirement of being a grown woman to own an invisible Jet," Harry told Diana and she looked at him, but he casually ate the piece of pie that had been served. "Speaking of which….."

"You're going to ask the same question that my friend in Metropolis did about the Jet, aren't you?" Diana asked him.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then I'll respect you not wanting to talk about it," Harry said and Diana smiled. "But…I understand that the Island has strict rules about men visiting it."

"You wish to talk to my mother personally about the situation that Donna got herself into," Diana said, cutting off Harry at the pass and Harry smiled.

"The thought did cross my mind," Harry told her.

Diana leaned back in her chair. She realized that it was making her shirt ride up a little bit. It grew tighter against her chest and showed off her toned stomach. The Amazon didn't bother to cease this action though.

"Well, I'm going to have to speak with my mother, and until that happens, I don't think that it would be wise for Donna to go on the island, some of the Amazons might react…..defensively," Diana said, choosing the right words for this situation.

"Is that what they're calling it?" Harry asked Diana.

"Well they aren't all man haters if that's what you're wondering, it's just that some of them…..are very….."

"They tend to protect their own, I understand," Harry said with a smile. "But you need to understand that Donna's a part of my family now, so I will protect her interests."

"What I wanted to hear, what I expected to hear actually," Diana said to him, shifting in her chair, and crossing her legs. "I'll have to speak with my mother, and then she's going to have to speak to the goddesses about this predicament, and I don't really envy what she has to do."

"Well, I'm sure that it will all work out in the end," Harry told her and Diana raised her eyebrow.

"I think that you have enough optimism for the both of us, and I understand how you felt, I have a younger sister…and she can tend to be a handful, and I'm sure that she'll get worse when she's a teenager," Harry said and Diana smiled, she didn't know that.

"Really, she will be a handful when she goes through that rebellious teen stage, and yes if you talk to my mother, you will get some stories about me," Diana said, with a grin.

"Oh really, like what?"

Diana gave him a knowing smile. "I can't recall off hand."

"You know, I don't really have any room to talk, because I did far, far worse as a teenager," Harry told Diana and Diana smiled. "But, I really can't recall off hand either exact details."

"Indeed."

Diana returned to drink her coffee, even though it was almost all done. That was one of the simpler pleasures of Man's World, a nice cup of coffee. She found herself hopelessly addicted to all of the pleasures it gave.

She managed to resist ordering another. Diana put down the cup of coffee and gave her sister's new husband a smile.

"So, despite the circumstances it was nice seeing you again."

* * *

Kara and Barbara were taken up the Elevator, along with Karen, with Donna waiting in the Lobby for Harry to eventually return. Lana slipped back to work sometime in the meantime and Helena was on the hunt for the Penguin.

It was down to Karen to give Kara and Barbara a tour of the Penthouse, given that both girls would spend a fair amount of time here.

"Wow."

Barbara thought that she had died and went to Geek heaven. she was in the main room of the RAO tower and her eyes widened like saucers.

"I know that you're really curious, but you shouldn't touch anything without permission," Karen warned her, pinching her.

That caused Barbara to snap back into reality and give Karen a piecing look. Kara laughed so the piercing look was directly on her.

Karen looked serious when she continued her explanation. "I'm sure that you'll understand that some of these systems don't respond too well to people who aren't keyed in."

"Some of these looked pretty inspired by Kryptonian legacy systems," Kara whispered and by legacy systems, she meant systems that were standard on Krypton about a thousand years or so before she was born.

"Yes, they are," Karen said and Barbara blinked suddenly, and nodded.

"Which explains why the RAO system is so hard to hack….or so I've heard," Barbara said which caused Karen to snort in response. Barbara threw her hands up into the air. "Okay, fine, but…..can you blame a girl for her curiosity…..I mean….you should consider it…..well never mind."

"You should consider this system to be a very good one, if Babs here couldn't hack it,' Kara said, patting the redhead on the head and she blushed slightly. "And I mean that in a good way…..because she is able to hack into the Pentagon."

"I'll deny that in a court of law though," Barbara said, her cheeks flushed at the praise. Then again she had a curiosity with computer systems at an extremely young age.

"Even if you weren't married to Harry, we would have a position for you in this company," Karen said and the fact that she was married to Harry, well that just sweetened the pot a little bit.

"Seriously?" Barbara asked, she tried not to look too excited. She epically failed at that to be honest and Karen snickered in response.

"Yes, seriously, this is a company that thrives on innovation and I think that with your creative outside the box thinking, you will be a good asset to the company," Karen said with a smile and Barbara once again looked rather pleased with herself. "We'll talk about that later, first I have to show my younger self something…that might be useful if she's out there getting attacked by all kinds of dangerous enemies."

Kara recovered from nearly dying of the extreme cold only a few months ago so she didn't have that much superheroine experience. What she did, she kicked plenty of ass at, in her own biased opinion.

"Oh, I really haven't done much, that Toyman deal was the most dangerous person I've ever fought, and he really has his anger directed for the most part at my cousin," Kara said but she could not hold the excitement that she had in her for much longer. "So, what do you have to show me, anyway?"

"Follow me, and you'll see," Karen said, she wondered if she was like this at that age. She was going to have to guess that there was a strong likelihood.

She couldn't honestly recall off of the top of her head.

"So…when did you meet Harry?" Kara asked, making some light conversation.

"First day at college, he was my student mentor…and I think that he took a lot of interest in me, not because of my powers or…"

"Because of your really big tits?" Kara asked, her eyes looking at them and Karen cleared her throat. Kara's eyes went back to hers and she sighed. "Sorry, but they are nice, can I touch them?"

"Maybe later if you're good," Karen said, and Kara shifted herself nervously, her arms folding together. "But, as you might have guessed, I outgrew my old costume."

She pulled back a door and walked Kara a little bit into the lab, where one of her older costumes is good.

"The red and the blue is nice but….they really see you coming in that, and…..I'm pretty sure you want to do your own thing," Karen said knowingly and Kara nodded in response, when she got a look at the costume that Karen showed her.

The blonde looked over the costume in an appraising manner. There was a black crop top. It would have just stretched maybe a couple of inches past the bottom of her breasts. Kara thought that her costume was rather conservative now, too conservative, as she saw the flowing black mini-skirt ,and the silver and black cape that latched about the area of her shoulders.

"It's made of material that helps absorb added yellow solar radiation for storage that you can release into your body for an extra charge in case of an emergency," Karen explained to her younger counterpart.

Kara looked over the costume. She kind of liked it.

"So you made the cape pretty practical, I like it," Kara said, smirking in agreement. "It does show a lot of skin, doesn't it?"

"Well, it allows you to absorb yellow solar radiation at a much faster rate, and…..besides you can't deny that it is good to drive people nuts," Karen said, reaching forward and twirling the lock around the head of her younger self. "And we're quite the little exhibitionist in our off time, aren't we?"

"Yeah, I guess that we are," Kara replied shamelessly. She took to sunbathing in the nude ever since she came to Earth.

It recharged her powers faster so there was a practical reason for doing so, really there was.

"I want to know about….your mother," Karen said and Kara wondered when this conversation would turn around. "You said that she was being held in stasis…"

"Yes, but the technology at the Fortress is only able to sustain life support, not bring her out of her state," Kara said in frustration.

Karen reached forward, gripping her sister by the hand and Karen relaxed.

"Maybe you should take me to the Fortress…."

"Can't I don't have a key and the only one that can let you in is off world," Kara said and Karen looked at her. "My baby cousin…"

And Kara prepared to explain that to Karen, who was all ears. Given that in her world, she didn't even have a cousin.

* * *

Diana made her way back to Themiscyria, not knowing what to expect. She knew that her mother knew that Donna was gone. Diana had already left the island before Hippolyta could react in any way, because time was of the essence.

The Princess of the Amazons passed a group of woman who were heavily armed and she made it to the end of the line, where a beautiful Amazon with flowing red hair, and bright blue eyes lookd at her.

"Artemis," Diana said to her in a warm greeting.

"Princess Diana," Artemis said to the Princess of the Amazons, and she reached forward and pulled her forward, planting a kiss on the top of her hand. "I trust your journey to the island was of safe passage."

"It was safe," Diana confirmed and she frowned, she could not tell what state her mother was in, by the looks of her fellow Amazons. It was one of those strong battles of wills, where she didn't want to ask and she didn't want to tell, so both sides were trying to stare back and forth with each other. "Is my mother….."

"She awaits you," another Amazon said and Diana turned around, taking the long trek into the Royal Palace.

It gave her plenty of time to think and to tell.

Her mother stood there, perched upon the Throne and the Royal Guards backed off to give Diana some room. Her mother was a regal woman and looked like she could be Diana's older sister more than her mother, if she was going to admit things to herself. The Princess of the Amazon made careful strides up the stairs.

"Diana, welcome home…where is your sister?" Hippolyta asked and Diana knew that she had only seconds to speak of this.

"A problematic situation has occurred, that might prevent Donna's safe return to the island," Diana said and Hippolyta raised an eyebrow. "I don't know where to start with this…"

"Perhaps the beginning would be the most ideal place, my daughter," Hippolyta offered and she could tell that this story was long.

She just hoped that it would be as dire as Diana hinted it might be.

* * *

**To Be Continued on September 23****rd****, 2014.**

**So we officially meet Diana, even though Harry already met her.**

**This chapter should have really been titled a snitch named Snitch, even though he was only a small part of the chapter. **

**Yeah, I know the Blur thing is kind of obvious what I'm doing, even though I'm not going to stop milking it. **

**The things the superstitious and cowardly lot think of in Gotham City.**

**Next chapter, we have some interesting conversations. **


	20. Island Adventures

**Chapter Twenty: Island Adventures.**

Diana concluded the one conversation that no one wanted to have with her mother. She thought that this could have gone better.

"So that's what happened," Diana concluded, wishing she could say something better than that.

Karen filled her in on most of what happened and Diana really wished that she had support. She had to face her mother for certain things before but nothing like this.

Hippolyta's steely gaze met her daughter. Diana appreciated the fact that her mother was the Queen of the Amazons now more than ever before.

"Well, I can't say that this is ideal, but at the same time, when your daughters get to a certain stage, you can't control their actions much longer, Queen or not," Hippolyta said. The woman looked oddly thoughtful and dare Diana say it, more calm than normal. "Sometimes, your daughter decides to get married to some mysterious handsome stranger, alongside her best friends in Vegas, and sometimes she decides to acquire an Invisible Jet. I guess that we have different ways of coping with the pressure of royalty."

Diana was surprised, even though she shouldn't be about the fact that her mother found out about the Invisible Jet. She opened her mouth and was about to ask her mother about it. She just couldn't bring herself to ask that question.

Fortunately Hippolyta was able to beat Diana to the punch and spare her from answering it.

"You had always had a liking to things fast and furious, and even if it is Invisible, there were enough rumors and whispers that I was able to piece two and two together," Hippolyta said in amusement.

One thing that she questioned is why her daughter even thought that an Invisible Jet was practice. Given that she had the ability to fly, it seemed like of redundant.

"Well what about Donna…..the laws….."

"That will be her cross to bare once the Goddesses made her decision, although they might be reminded some of the decisions they made hasility in the name of love, and how there might not account for taste," Hippolyta said and she stared down Diana carefully. She went for the extremely important question. "So tell me, what is my daughter's husband like?"

"He wishes to speak to you mother, about the circumstances of this…"

"He does realize that that was Donna's choice, and you are willing to vouch for him that he was not going to pressure her into doing something that was not in her best interests," Hippolyta answered and Diana frowned when she looked at her mother.

"You do realize that Donna wouldn't have done anything that wasn't in her best interests, and would not have done anything that she didn't want to, because she is that stubborn," Diana said and Hippolyta smiled at her daughter.

"Stubborness is a trait that runs firmly in this bloodline," Hippolyta said and she once again thought of the odd circumstances that she had been presented with.

Her daughter knew but perhaps this was an attempt to exert her independence, and prove that she was not a child. It was a hasty decision. Hippolyta understood better than anyone else that matters of the heart could cloud the better judgment of a person. She had been down that road before and she hoped that it would not bite Donna as much as it bit her.

"Yes, of course, mother," Diana said, and she knew that it was a slight towards her but her mother also had pointed out on numerous occasions that she was equally stubborn as well. They all had their moments. "So shall we…"

Hippolyta's eyes met her daughter's "Diana, you must understand my child, this is a situation that I cannot take lightly. It may be several days before your sister will allow to return to this island, although….."

"Harry intends to take her in and take care of her, just like his other wives," Diana said, glad that she was able to smooth over that situation.

She might have been less impressed if it wasn't someone like Harry Potter. That managed to soften the blow.

"A strong male can handle multiple women, I am glad that my youngest is in his firm hands," Hippolyta said with a smile on her face and she sighed. Raising two daughters on her own might have been a larger challenge then managing the island and all of the hot tempers with the Amazons. "And he does wish to face me…."

"You know, I don't see why you can't leave the island and make the trip….."

"Diana, if I could, I most certainly would but there are….circumstances that you don't know about," Hippolyta said and she could sense the retort coming from her oldest daughter. "And yes, I would explain it to you. To make a long and complicated story shorter and simplified, there are rumors that some of the less favorable gods are making a power play."

"Ares or Hades?"

"It may be an alliance with both, but it could be a scheme of a far more devious player," Hippolyta explained and there was a name that burned on the tip of her tongue. "Circe."

"Circe, she was banished for her schemes last time, wasn't she?" Diana asked and Hippolyta smiled.

"Circe doesn't seem to have acquired the usage of the word, no, in her greater vocabulary I'm afraid," Hippolyta said crisply to her daughter and Diana frowned, staring her mother down. Hippolyta shook her head and grew more serious yet. "But then again, I do have to appeal to the Sacred Six, and hope that they will be able to both forgive what Donna has done and allow Harry to appear on the island for a meeting."

Diana nodded, the Sacred Six of Artemis, Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera were among those who helped establish this island for sanctuary. It was down to them what Donna's inevitable fate would be.

"And perhaps if given the opportunity, I will explain to them the reason why this island was established in the first place and it most certainly was not to judge those part of the outside world," Hippolyta added, a burning gaze going in her eye.

She most certainly had the air of a woman who was willing to go to war with the goddesses to get precisely what she wanted.

Diana blinked, her mother was intensely staring forward and she sensed that there was something more to this entire mess than she first thought or that first met the eye.

"Mother I…"

"Do not concern yourself with these things my daughter, tell Artemis that I will be gone for three days, and until I return, she knows what to do, and if….it happens, she knows the security protocols," Hippolyta said and she stepped up and wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug. "And…you've done well with extending our influence past these borders. Perhaps we have been placed inside our sanctuary for too long."

Diana could feel her mother's arms withdraw from her. The Amazon Princess frowned, she had this feeling that there was so much that wasn't being told. She couldn't quite shake it but there were changes that were happening.

Changes that she hoped that she could find herself on the ground floor of but she didn't know. Her mother might not even know anything. Her expression softened when she watched her mother's retreating back.

"Have safe passage, mother," Diana muttered, hoping that this turned out well, because there were instances.

She got up, her mother walking through the Gateway. The Amazon Princess backed off and saw that there was someone else waiting for her at the door.

Diana turned to face Artemis, the general of the Amazon armies who was not to be confused with the Goddess of the same name, even though it might be an honor to get confused with her.

"So, how much of that did you hear?" Diana asked her.

Artemis was firm in her response. "Enough where I know that it isn't my place to pry. But I know what to do if it happens before the Queen returns, don't worry."

* * *

Donna waited for Diana to return to see what her mother had to say. Needless to say, she was just a tiny bit jumpy. The dark haired Amazon was pacing back and forth. She wouldn't be surprised if she would wear a hole in a carpet.

Damn it she was so jumpy and that was irritating some of her fellow bond mates.

'_Stop doing that, you're making me tired,' _Kara replied and Donna crossed her arms, returning fire with a scowl.

'_Sorry, can't help it,' _Donna thought, she was about ready to lose all sense of her mind, and about ready to scream.

'_Well just calm down, you know that there isn't much that you can do,' _Kara said and she sighed.

She had her own things to deal with and she had to call home to check in in a little bit. Barbara already headed back to Gotham City to face the music, of course she was technically of age being eighteen years old.

Still, owning up to the fact that you got married in Vegas wasn't exactly an ideal thing at any age. She figured that it would be the best thing to tell her father, even though he might not like what he found out.

Donna's expression brightened ever so slightly when Harry showed up. His presence calmed her even though she was still a basket case of nerves.

"Not back yet?" Harry asked her gently.

Donna glared at him for a second. Then she backed off, she supposed that she shouldn't put the brunt of her agitation on Harry.

'_No,' _Donna thought to herself and she returned fire with a long sigh.

"I wouldn't be this tense if she was back right now," Donna admitted and Harry sat down next to the couch. His hands rested gently on her shoulders.

"You got to relax….you Amazons do know how to relax if I'm not mistaken?"

"Most of the time…actually we do," Donna said, and she held her tongue to say what she was really thinking, even though Harry's eyebrow raised up.

"That's good," Harry told her and he placed his hands down on either side of her shoulders and started to rub her bare flesh.

Donna had never gotten a massage from another man but she leaned into it, allowing a sigh to escape her lips. Her husband had magic hands, even if the pun was something of a cliché, and the dark haired Amazon panted in pleasure. She was sure that he intentionally worked her up to keep her mind off of what happened.

"Oooh, Harry," Donna breathed, succumbing to her husband's touch rapidly.

"Are you feeling good now?" Harry whispered to Donna and Donna nodded.

She was relaxing. The energy pulsing through his hands caused her to feel hot and bothered. Her mind really went in some interesting directions when he worked her over.

"Are we doing okay?" Harry asked, and he slowly rubbed the back of her neck, moving around, to pull her shirt off.

Donna had no body image issues and this was her husband. She wanted this, that was the most vital part of this. She allowed him to pull off her shirt. More flesh revealed itself when the garmet pulled off of the beautiful princess. She wore a very thin and lacey black bra from the waist up, and it barely contained her firm, high breasts.

Harry's hands roamed around her body and the young Amazon could feel her pleasure heighten, when they grazed underneath her breasts. It came close to cupping them in his strong and firm hands but not quite.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Better than okay, I'm amazing," Donna started and she turned around.

She was ready to face Harry fully, her nipples poking out from the other side of her bra and she was begging for attention. Her body wanted it, she lusted for something, and she hungered, her lips moistened in more ways than one.

Harry grabbed Donna and pulled his wife into a deep embrace, along with a passionate kiss. This much the young Amazon princess returned with equal hunger, her nails digging into his shoulder when she done so. She slowly worked his shirt off and smiled, running her hands down his abs. A satisfied grin flew over her face when she worked his muscles over.

The Amazon could feel him but she wanted to feel all of him. The kiss intensified and that caused her panties to get extremely wet and uncomfortable, with his hands roaming all over her body.

Suddenly, things peaked to the next level. It was only inevitable where they would go next.

* * *

Donna was down on the couch, with a grin on her face, and Harry smiled when he looked towards the door.

"You can come in Diana," Harry said and Diana entered the room, looking rather spell bound by the situation. To her credit, for the most part, she managed to shrug off her sister's condition, even though it was rather hard to do.

Diana walked in, holding her head high and bold and she stopped in front of Harry, hitching a breath that she held in for a little bit.

"So what's the deal?" Harry asked Diana, throwing the ball back into his court.

"I've talked to mother," Diana said and Harry smiled. "And she talked with the goddesses…"

"And?" Donna asked, she was nervous and she didn't really want to be left hanging in suspense and Diana looked towards her sister with a smile.

"Mother wishes to talk to Harry…..she got that permission, as for your fate….the goddesses are still trying to determine that."

Donna groaned, she would have been a lot more at ease with a flat out "no". The fact that this was hanging over her head like a well-placed pendulum right about to slice through the top of her head, she wasn't having a good time at it.

The goddesses sure know how to drive someone nuts. Donna sometimes cursed their very existence and she didn't feel bad about it at all.

"It will be okay," Harry whispered to Donna, and she got up, wordlessly pulling the clothes on. Harry turned his attention away from his wife towards her sister. "And….when did your mother say this meeting was going to take place?"

"She said that she would be fine with it taking place at any time that you're ready," Diana said and there was a moment where Harry's smile shifted.

"No time like the present."

* * *

Harry smiled when he and Diana arrived at the edge of the island, allowing for the gateways to give them passage.

"You are the first man who the Amazons willingly have allowed to set foot on this island," Diana informed Harry and Harry noted the emphasis on the word "willingly. He gave Diana a questioning look and she gave him a grimace when she thought about it. "It was before my time to be really honest…..a long time ago….."

"I see," Harry answered and he waited for Diana to lead him onto the island. The two of them crossed the threshold of the island and Harry was ready "So, is there anything else that I should know?"

"Just be yourself, and it will be fine, my sisters…..well they've had enough with men trying to deceive them with being something that they're not," Diana informed Harry and he turned towards her, raising his eyebrow towards her and she smiled. "Trust me when I say this…..there have been enough false people there to last a life time. They don't hate men. Well most of them don't, there are a few who take a more extremist view…..my mother manages to remind them often enough of the reason why we have established this island."

Harry walked onto the island, his shoulders raised high and proudly when he approached, there were beautiful women as far as the eye could see, lined up and down the island. Some of them were regarding Harry with curiosity. Some had not been present when men like Hercules had tried to enslave them; others had only seen men in photo books.

There was a few that had been allowed to observe Man's World but it was always from a distance. Diana was among the first who looked at things up close and personal.

Diana and Harry reached the royal guard, who stood before them at the gate, their jaws set when they looked at both of them.

"I'm here to see Queen Hippolyta, regarding my union to her youngest daughter, Donna Troy, allow me to pass, I mean you no harm, unless if I'm attacked," Harry said and they stepped back, regarding him closely.

Both sides engaged in an intense battle of wills with the other.

Diana wondered how they were going to react, Harry was sincere but at the same time, the Amazons looked as if they were questioning his motives.

"The Queen wants to see him straight away and the goddesses have allowed special permission on the island," Artemis told the other members of the Royal Guard, a warning in her eyes not to do anything to cause difficulties.

To cause difficulties with this would be akin to causing difficulties to the goddesses.

"Welcome Harry Potter, Queen Hippolyta has been expecting you, she will be with you momentarily," Artemis said.

"Thank you, Artemis," Harry said with a smile and the redhead nodded, with the other members of the Royal Guard speaking in hushed tones to each other, wondering what his intentions were. The Princess's unexpected nuptials were a cause of gossip that was unbecoming of the Amazons.

"Fall in line," Artemis told her guard and they nervously fell into line. She would not argue with the leader of their armies. "There's nothing to see here, do you hear me?"

They nodded their heads and Harry smiled, walking with Diana. The walk seemed to be far longer than it really is.

"Artemis helped train me, and…..they know better than defy her, unless they want to be used as breathing practice dummies," Diana whispered to Harry and Harry smiled.

"So, she's the best in the world at what she does….."

"The only person who can match her in combat is my mother," Diana told Harry and there was a small amount of excitement and a greater amount of pride bubbling from her voice at what was being told here. "And…here we are."

'_Oh Hera, help me,' _Donna thought. She didn't relish her husband meeting her mother.

'_I'm sure that it won't be that bad,' _Harry said with a smile to try and reassure his wife.

'_Harry is just meeting your mother, with your entire future at your home and your…..yeah that sounds bad, never mind,' _Kara said and Harry cleared his throat. Kara grew suddenly more somber and extremely serious. _'Seriously, Donna, everything will be okay, trust me….and…..I'm sure that your mother will understand.'_

Donna sighed; she knew that her mother would understand, in her own fashion. It was others that she wasn't so certain about. She had never directly interacted with the goddesses, but she could always feel their presence and she felt like she was underneath their judging eye.

* * *

Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons, was an extremely beautiful woman that much could not be denied. She sat patiently upon the throne and looked down at her daughter and her guest when they both approached.

"You may leave, I can handle this," Hippolyta said to both of her guards and they opened their mouths to protest their Queen being left alone. "I have learned much after my last encounter with a man…but…..not all of them should be tarred by the same brush, just like not all women should be given the benefit of the doubt, and false assume they have no wrong doing in their actions."

There was a couple of Skeletons in the closets of the Amazons, Harry had a feeling and Hippolyta shifted her gaze over towards Harry, and she beckoned him to come forward.

"Diana, you may stay if you wish, but close the door so we do not get disturbed," Hippolyta said and Diana walked over, closing the door behind her.

"I'm Harry Potter, Donna's husband."

Hippolyta recognized the name instantly and smiled.

"You're the one that Diana met as well, well you seem to have the ability to captivate my daughters," Hippolyta said and Diana looked at her mother.

"Mother," Diana hissed underneath her breath, making a cutting motion with her hands and Donna was snickering, even though Harry could hear her.

'_Well I was worried about my mother embarrassing me, but it turns out that I don't have to worry about that too much,' _Donna thought, barely able to keep the thinly veiled amusement out of her tone. _'At least I don't have to worry about being alone in that.'_

'_If your sister could hear you right now,' _Karen said and Donna smiled, she couldn't hear her, at least not yet.

As far as she knew anyway Diana wasn't figured into the bond yet. Diana wasn't one to remain silent so unless she was acting completely out of character. Donna was going underneath the very accurate assumption that she could not have been heard no matter what.

"Queen Hippolyta, it is an honor to meet a woman who has raised two wonderful daughters," Harry said and he gripped her hand, kissing it.

The Queen of the Amazons tried not to look fazed and only the observant would sense the brief shiver that went down her spine. Harry stepped back to allow her room.

"I trust that they're a reflection on you," Harry said to her and Hippolyta said.

"Yes, I hope that they are, but looking in a mirror such as that indicates that there might be some flaws with yourself that you haven't noticed," Hippolyta said with a sigh, but it looked like her daughters were both having better luck with men then she ever did, which was a plus.

"But it does underline the good qualities as well, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Harry, it does…..but we're avoiding this situation very badly," Hippolyta said and Harry sat down next to her. "There has only been two cases of Amazon Marriage throughout the history of the island and both….well they didn't exactly end well and were the reasons why the goddesses imposed the rule that Donna might have told you about."

"Yes, she told me about that, how anyone who got married had to have permission from the goddesses to do so," Harry said.

"The goddesses have not given their final word, but I'm thinking that they might be trying to get something out of the entire deal," Hippolyta said, crossing her arms together and there was an instant where she looked at him.

"So, the politics of the divine is causing this situation to lead to a huge headache," Harry said and Hippolyta responded with a prominent sigh.

"Unfortunately, that's what appears to be the case," Hippolyta answered, brushing her fingers through her hair and giving a long sigh. "Diana, would you fetch both of us a drink?"

"I'll do it, where are they?" Harry asked and Diana smiled but didn't say anything.

Hippolyta gave a shadow of a smile. "It is not a problem at all….."

"No, it really isn't," Diana said and Harry smiled at both of them.

"You two shouldn't have to get up in your home, and get something for me….."

Harry had a pretty good idea what game they were playing. To be honest, it was a very transparent game. He was going to score some points here because he knew how something like this worked. It took him a while but never the less he learned how to play the game.

"You're our guest though," Hippolyta said and she crossed her legs together and stared Harry down.

"But it's your island…"

"So we should be the ones to offer you hospitality," Hippolyta said and she got up herself, pouring the three of them drinks. "But, I would congratulate you Harry, because you passed the test…..but you already knew it, didn't you?"

"Pretty much yes," Harry agreed with her and the Queen of the Amazon situated herself down in front of Harry, lifting the drink to her mouth and she sipped it.

Harry decided to do the same thing and he felt a swelling of warmth fill his body once again.

"Worthy for a god," Hippolyta said, and she looked at her daughter knowingly. Diana agreed, but she was going to keep her mouth respectfully shut. "And for the record, I will say that under my authority as the Queen of the Amazons, you can visit the island any time, as should Donna."

'_Really?' _Donna asked suddenly and excitedly, and she tried not to seem too anxious.

"Your daughter is pleased with this news," Harry said and he proceeded to explain the situation to Donna.

To her credit Hippolyta listened extremely intently and didn't judge the situation.

'_I wonder what else that mental link could do,' _Kara thought and Karen smiled and focused hard, which caused Kara to be struck by a surprise orgasm.

The blonde shuddered and shivered completely, she thought that Harry was kidding when he described that particular function of the bond.

"Your hospitality is quite welcomed, Queen Hippolyta, but wouldn't the goddesses not be thrilled with what you're doing, by going over their heads?" Harry asked her and Hippolyta smiled.

"Well, I'll deal with them, and I've been meaning to have a few words with them," Hippolyta said. The entire Circe diabolical might have been avoided with the goddesses having been more upfront and then there was Zeus playing his bullshit games.

Then again half of Zeus's problems came from sticking his lightning bolt in the wrong place.

Hippolyta wondered what a meeting between Harry and Zeus would be like, he was due to be knocked down a peg or two. That being said, she smiled and took another drink.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Harry, Donna has chosen well," Hippolyta said and she gave Diana a smile again, almost prodding her into something or perhaps she was giving her some encouragement or a blessing. It was really hard to tell at this point.

* * *

"So that went on about as well as I expected," Diana said, with a smile. "I've got a couple of things to take care of over there before I head back home."

"Oh, no problem, I enjoy the company," Harry told her honestly.

"You know, it's rather cumbersome to get from the island and back this way," Harry said and Diana smiled at him in response.

"Not if you have an Invisible Jet," Diana said, and she stepped towards him, with the Amazons leading them off of the island. "But, yeah, that was just security reasons, plus you know, it's a taste of the faith and durability of the Amazons and all of that."

"So, do you think that you've passed that test?"

Diana smiled in response. "I think that much should be obvious, Harry."

"I'm glad that it is, and for the record, I have no doubt that you are able to pass this test, and pretty much any other test that you would have been thrown in your way," Harry said, grabbing her hand extremely firmly.

Diana was not that hesitant, rather she took it, and the two of them lifted up into the sky and flew, feeling the crisp sea air smack their face when they kept flying.

"So, flight, that's interesting that you're capable of it, or is this some kind of magic trick?"

"Well, that's an interesting story, and one that I want to tell to you later," Harry said with a smile and a wink. "I think that we should pick up Donna, because she'll want to see her mother and…"

"I'll escort her back to the island and if any of our sisters give her any static about what happen, they're going to answer to me personally," Diana said and there was a firm glare on her face, with her jaw completely set.

Harry hated to be the Amazon who caused Diana's younger sister any static with her on the case.

"With a threat like that, I doubt that any of them are going to try anything," Harry said and Diana smiled.

"Most of them wouldn't, but you'd be surprised about how brazen some of the Amazons are be, but my mother might be the worst of them all," Diana said and Harry laughed.

"You would have to be to defy an edict from the goddesses," Harry said and Diana smiled. "She said that they wanted something, that's why they were playing games."

"Hmm, I wonder," Diana muttered, and given the rumors of all of the flaws regarding some of the gods, she did wonder.

That was not the point now that was well beside the point.

'_Donna, honey, get ready, your sister and I are coming back and she'll take you home, your mother wants to speak with you,' _Harry thought and Donna sighed.

'_Well at least I'm too old to get grounded,' _Donna admitted in relief.

'_Never too old to spank though,' _Kara thought and Donna grew completely red.

'_KARA!' _Donna yelled in a mortified tone of voice and Karen interjected through the bond link, in amusement.

'_You know, the same goes for you as well young lady,' _Karen suggested and there was something suggestive about her voice and Kara yelped in surprise.

'_You know, I would pay to see that,' _Barbara thought but then she smiled and nodded. _'I'm on my way back from Gotham by the way…but I'll tell you when I get back how everything got, this is one of the things that I'd prefer to do face to face and not over the bond link.'_

"Sorry, I'm talking to the girls over the link," Harry said and Diana looked intrigued.

"Doesn't that…no offense, doesn't that get annoying to hear voices in your head like that all of the time?" Diana asked and Harry smiled.

"No offense at all Diana, and it might seem rather annoying at times, but I think that I cope with it well enough," Harry said, in responded with a shift grin. "Besides, I'm able to turn it off, or on at will whenever I choose to."

"And they can as well?" Diana asked and Harry smiled.

"Exactly."

The two settled down on the ground outside of the RAO tower and Diana was amazed by it. She had been by it a few times.

"So, if you ever have time, maybe you can swing by and go out to coffee and watch a movie," Harry suggested in the most nonchalant manner possible and Diana blinked, she was momentarily caught off guard by that suggestion.

"You know, I'd like that," Diana commented in agreement, she could barely keep the grin off her face.

* * *

Barbara waited for Harry to return, after parting ways with the two Amazons.

"So, what did your father have to say?"

"I won't say that he thought that this wasn't something he was pleased by, but he figured that whatever was done is done," Barbara said and she dropped her voice. "Then again, I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of things that I do that he might not be too pleased by, so a spontaneous Vegas marriage might rank surprisingly low on the list of things that I shouldn't be doing."

Harry nodded; Barbara filled him in on enough where he got the significance of this situation.

"My father doesn't blame you to it, at least I managed to talk him down from conducting a complete background check on your, as far as I know," Barbara said and Harry raised an eyebrow. She laughed and smiled, leaning forward to give her husband a nice soft kiss on the lips. "That's a joke, at least, I think that it is."

"Okay, if you say so," Harry told her and Barbara frowned, crossing her arms over her chest and she peered back at him, and she sighed. "But I guess that he still wants to meet with me."

"Really, that much is obvious, isn't it?" Barbara asked him and Harry smiled. "Actually, we're meeting in a friendly venue, with lots of witnesses."

"Oh, really….."

"I've got us tickets to the Haly's Circus, it's going to be in Gotham City for the next few days, with the Flying Graysons, the spectacular acrobats are manage to defy death without use of a net," Barbara said with a smile on her face. "And there's a sword swallower and….."

"Please tell me that there aren't clowns there," Helena said turning up and she popped up next to Barbara who turned over her shoulder in surprise.

"Actually that got cut for budget reasons," Barbara said and Helena relaxed, becoming more at ease and Barbara was curious to why she was reacting the way that she was reacting. "What do you have against clowns anyway?"

"Loads," Helena said, evasively stepping around the question, but the truth was after what happened in her world, if she didn't see another clown in her life, it would be all too soon.

"They're unnatural abominations," Harry said with a smile on his face and Helena nodded in agreement. "So are you coming or….."

"I've got to continue the Cobblepot investigation, and the only way that I can do it, is if I go into Gotham City," Helena said and she looked resigned to this point.

"Cobblepot…..you don't mean the…"

"We'll explain later," Harry said to her and Barbara frowned.

"But if you can explain it to me now, then I can help you now," Barbara said, her arms folded over her chest and there was a set expression on her face, with Harry staring her down and he smiled in response.

"I'll tell you about it once we get in the plane on our way to Gotham City….providing we're all going," Harry said and Helena nodded in response.

If she would have run into the alternate version of her father, then so be it.

**To Be Continued on September 26****th****, 2014.**

* * *

**I thought that there were a lot of fun moments in this chapter, and some interactions. The scenes involving Harry, Donna, Diana, and Hippolyta obviously drove this chapter. **

**It should be obvious why Helena detests clowns if you really think about it. **

**We're off to see the Circus. Surely nothing could happen there, could it?**

**Stay tuned this Friday. **


	21. Fallen Part One

**Chapter Twenty One: Fallen Part One.**

Some called the Circus the greatest show on Earth. Others called it a trainwreck and the exploitation of people. Regardless of what each and every individual person considered it as one thing could not be denied. The circus got a ton of people out there in droves.

Young Alexandra Potter relished the opportunity to get out and about and be able to see the Circus. It was one of the opportunities that she didn't have when she was growing up. Although to be fair, she was still growing up and enjoying some degree of a childhood. Even if those early years of her life were rather rough on her.

Still, she was glad that she got this opportunity, going out and about with Harry, along with Helena and Barbara.

"Oh, this is going to be so awesome, it's a shame that there aren't going to be any clowns," Alex said and Barbara and Helena both cringed.

Helena shook her head. She might have to work on educating this one about clowns and their evils later on.

"Well, I'm sure that there are going to be plenty of other things that will keep your interest, Alex," Harry told her and the young Potter female nodded, crossing her arms, when they made their way into the front entrance. Harry took this opportunity to lean in and talk to Barbara. "So, when is your father showing up?"

Barbara frowned. That was a really good question actually. "He said that he was meeting us here right about now, he's never one to be late you know."

"I know," Harry replied with a smile and he ran his hands over the top of his hair.

He reached in and grabbed Barbara's hand. He squeezed his wife's hand, holding it in tight to him.

Barbara hitched in a deep breath. She thought that she should be nervous. It wouldn't be too bad though. She was a grown woman, therefore capable of making her own decisions, both good and bad. She would fight this one to the death that this was a good decision.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked Barbara, nudging her.

"Well, I knew that we would have to face this one eventually," Barbara commented to him.

"We'll face it and we'll do so together," Harry told her.

"Not nervous are you," Barbara said, half teasing but she was half serious and also completely worried. But rather at ease that her father had witnesses around them, but really worried still. Then again she might be completely paranoid.

Okay, she was completely paranoid. Who could blame her though.

Harry gave his wife a questioning look. "No, I'm not worried…because I've deal with well worse than an overprotective father."

Barbara arched an eyebrow. That response only made her have another question. "Does anything faze you?"

"A few things, but I just go with the flow and see where life takes me and all that," Harry answered, and his face contorted into one of those smiles. His arms crossed together and Helena took a step forward.

She was taken aback when she nearly ran into someone in the Circus.

Of course, knowing her luck she would run into her alternate universe father, much younger. It was really jarring to see him in his prime. Especially with all of his limbs functioning and attached. She only saw pictures and that wasn't the same thing.

"Excuse me, I didn't see you," Bruce said in a jovial voice. He attached himself to one of those vapid model types that seemed to be hanging around Gotham City billionaires.

The type that always looked for some free-pubiclity, maybe some free money for all they knew.

"That's alright," Helena said, he was wearing the mask, but the mask kind of got blurred in those later years.

Batman started to seep into Bruce Wayne's life and her mother was the only one that could bring him down to Earth, but damn if her mother didn't have her own problems. Her mask flittered in and out often enough as well.

"You must be Harry Potter," Bruce said in surprise. He wasn't expecting to see Potter here but he was glad to meet him finally in person. "I've heard about your work and it's about time someone managed to loosen the Luthor chokehold over Metropolis."

"It's never easy," Harry answered with a smile on his face, looking Bruce directly in the eye and he walked over to shake his hand. "This is Barbara Gordon…..you may have met her father."

"Yes," Bruce said and he leaned forward. "I thought that I may have saw your father in the parking lot, Miss Gordon, he's on his way in."

"Great," Barbara said, not sounding so happy but if Bruce noticed, he didn't say anything.

"And this is my….."

"I'm his sister, Helena Potter," Helena said, side stepping the answer for Harry and Bruce looked at her, surveying the situation for a moment.

Helena wondered if he bought the story. There was a moment where she felt like she was getting scanned by some lie detecting machine.

"I can see the resemblance, but then again, I can see the resemblance between myself and Harry, but….a few of the less repeatable papers reported it as such, but I guess they have to get something right, sometime," Bruce commented with a light chuckle and Harry smiled in response but didn't really say much of anything. "But….."

"Twins separated at birth, I've heard the rumors trust me, they are pretty outrageous, aren't they?" Harry asked and Bruce nodded crisply at Harry's blasé response.

"Rather outrageous, yes," Bruce agreed and he faced Harry down. "But there are sometimes validity to even the most insane of rumors, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, many times," Harry said and he saw Alex standing over the corner, pleading to be acknowledged. "And this is my cousin, Alexandra."

"Hi, Mr. Wayne," Alexandra said in a mostly respectful voice, even though she thought that he looked like a bit of a dork.

She had to be polite, even though it was kind of hard for her to be so. She only barely disguised wrinkling her nose up.

She could have sworn that Helena gave her a shadow of a smile before she turned away.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all…"

James Gordon turned up, looking gruff and Harry stared at him for ten seconds. He got a strange sense of Deja-Vu for some reason. He shook his head.

"Sorry, you remind me of someone that I knew in a past life," Harry said swiftly and he said no more other than that. "I'm Harry Potter….."

"Right, the boy that Barbara found in Vegas," Gordon said but then he realized that he was dealing with the Harry Potter, and was rather surprised. Barbara had a thing for him. Not that he spent too much time worrying about that. He didn't think that it would escalate to marriage though. "So…this is not the most ideal situation, but I had some time to think about it, and Barbara is eighteen and old enough to make her own decisions…..even if this was not one that I preferred to make…..so welcome to the family."

Harry saw Gordon extend his hand and Harry took the hand, shaking it. Barbara breathed a sigh of relief.

"You don't have any criminal records, do you?" Gordon asked and Barbara looked outraged.

"DAD!"

"No, I haven't even shop lifted a stick of gum," Harry said. He did once crush a toad with a falling cabinet.

That was purely out of self-defense and it was nothing that would really hold up in a court of law, as far as Harry knew. Considering it was also out of this universe's jurisdiction, Harry had nothing to worry about.

"That's good, Barbara has chosen well…..and you know, that look hasn't worked on me since you were six," Gordon said and he was sure that Harry was on the level.

'_So how much did you explain to him?' _Harry asked Barbara.

Barbara threw her arms up into the air. She figured that they were getting to this point soon enough but she didn't have to like the point that they were getting to.

'_I explained enough to him, if you must know,' _Barbara commented lightly and she could already feel a headache that was coming onto her.

The redhead female crossed her arms together and Harry placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in, which caused her to become a little more at ease, just a little bit, but not too much.

'_Okay, that's good enough for me,' _Harry said and he followed Helena, Alex, and Barbara up, they had some good seats to enjoy the show.

Harry didn't want to say anything out of fear of jinxing it. That being said, he hoped things fixed up to be a nice relaxing evening. He looked forward forward to a nice quiet night that would be devoid of any and all incident. That would be a nice and welcome change to the normal insane life he lived. He was ready to just kick back and enjoy the show and enjoy the events that would unfold for him tonight.

* * *

The roar of the crowds could be heard outside of the Circus, as the preliminary acts warmed up the Circus. Everyone knew what they were here for, for the main attraction. The main attraction was presently standing backstage, waiting for their cue to go on.

A young female of about eleven years old, with a long sigh crossed her arms over her chest. She had long dark hair and bright blue eyes, and she was slipping on her uniform. It was a red top with green shorts, and she looked and felt liked a total dweeb wearing it, especially out in front of all of these people.

She supposed that it went with the territory, but it didn't make her feel any less of a dweeb.

"Rebecca, honey, we're on in five minutes, are you ready?"

Rebecca Grayson pulled a face, looking about as critical of her appearance as a pre-teen girl might, even though she was a bit of a tomboy. She wondered if something like this was normal outside the circus. The young pre-teen guessed that she didn't.

She supposed she couldn't even use the excuse that she looked ridiculous because she was performing in the circus and being ridiculous was one of the key aspects of performing.

"I'm coming Mom," Rebecca said and she closed her eyes mostly so she didn't have to look at herself. Even though she looked and felt like a complete and utter dweeb, she was coming, and she walked out of her dressing room, where her mother was standing there, in a similar costume. The girl had to admit it. Her mother was able to pull off the look much better. "So, how do I look?"

"You look great," Mary Grayson said with a smile on her face and Rebecca stared at her mother.

"People are going to laugh at me," she said, placing her hands on her face and pulling a sour face. She supposed that things didn't look too bad in this dim of a light, but never the less, she shook her head.

"They'll be dazzled by what you do up there, to be worried too much about how you look, and besides…..our manager says that we needed a fresh look," Mary told her daughter and Rebecca grumbled underneath her breath.

"Maybe you should fire him, he obviously has no taste."

Mary patted her daughter on the shoulder in a consoling manner. Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest and gave an extremely prominent scowl but she didn't really say anything else.

"It will be over before you know it, and I'm sure that you'll look back upon this fondly. Perhaps you'll even enjoy it"

Rebecca shook her head in disbelief, the day that she walked around like this willingly would be a sad day indeed. That being said, she looked a lot more normally dressed than the rest of the circus.

"Your father should be right across the hall….why don't you go and get him?"

"Right, okay," Rebecca said, making her way across the hallway.

Rebecca was on her way to meet her father but something stopped her in her tracks She saw Mr. Haly, the owner of the Circus, talking to some fat guy. She never saw him before in her entire life.

"Tell you Haly, there's already been some faulty pyro tonight, it's a good thing that no one got barbequed," the fat man whispered to Haly. "You know, my boys and I can make sure you have the best equipment and you know….it wouldn't cost you much, say half of the gate receipts. I'm making you an offer, it would be a shame if something happened to anyone tonight."

Whatever this fat buy was selling, Haly wasn't buying. He waved a rough finger in the fat man's finger.

"Zucco, I told you for the last time, I'm not paying up your racket, and you better get out of here before I call the cops," Haly said and suddenly, the strongman exited his dressing room.

"There's not any trouble, is there, Mr. Haly?" the strongman asked in a rough Russian accent.

"No, there isn't, in fact, Mr. Zucco was just leaving, weren't you Mr. Zucco?" Haly asked and Zucco raised his hands in the air.

He'd pay up now and pretty soon Zucco would be running the circus, and Haly would be out on the street. That was how things worked in Gotham City. You followed a pecking order or you get smacked down.

"It'd be a shame if something would happen…"

Haly reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, pulling out on Zucco. The mob boss was surprised at the stones on this circus owner and also really impressed.

"It'd be a shame if something happened to you," Haly said, holding the gun on Zucco.

"That thing isn't even loaded, is it?" Zucco asked.

"Stick around and find out," Haly said and the strongman took an imposing step forward.

"Yeah, don't say, I didn't warn you, guess you've got a stone heart Haly, and I'm just trying to protect these good people," Zucco said and he walked off.

Rebecca stood, as Mr. Haly and the Strongman moved to the trailer. She could have sworn that she saw Zucco pass something to one of the roadies backstage.

The Grayson girl felt a hand on her shoulder and she spun around. After what she witnessed, the girl tensed herself up. Her body relaxed, when she saw that it was only her father standing there.

"Rebecca, are we ready to go on?" John Grayson asked and the girl nodded. "What's wrong?"

"There was some guy back there…..he was demanding money from Mr. Haly….."

"Oh, I'm sure it was one of the agents, they're always out for a bigger cut of the cash, and it's the performers who get screwed," John said, not aware that he said the last part out loud.

Rebecca wished adults would take what she said seriously sometimes. It annoyed her just a little bit.

"He said that there would be….."

"Coming up next, doing their death defying acrobats without the aid of the net, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the Flying Graysons."

"That's our cue," Mary said and Rebecca stared down the hallway, the man was gone.

"But….."

"Becky, I'm sure it's nothing," John said, he needed to be of sound of mind when he was two hundred feet above the ground, without the aid of a net.

That really was less imposing than it was. He was up there countless times and never had a miss.

"It sounded….."

Mary grabbed her daughter, and the three of them made their way out in front of the crowd.

Rebecca had to focus on the performance out there, and all of the people, this was one of the biggest crowds that she ever performed in front of. Most of their performances had been in rinky dink rural towns and cities where the performers outnumbered the people. This was the big break for Haly's Circus in Gotham City, so everything had to go right.

* * *

The Circus went on without a hitch, other than a pryo screwup that caused people to jump. No one got burned and everyone thought that it was just part of the show to add some color to it.

Harry sat with a smile, with Alexandra pretty much balanced on the arm on the side of the seat, sipping on a soda, something that Harry was sure that he would regret, if she got wired later on.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, performing their death defying act, without the aid of the net, ladies and gentlemen, the Flying Graysons."

There was a loud applause and Barbara looked on, she was curious to see how this worked. Either they were completely nuts, which was likely, or there was some trickery. Out of the two options, she found the option less likely.

Alexandra looked excited, on pins and needles at the excitement of what this act would bring.

"Are they really going to fly through the sky?" Alexandra asked.

Helena was skeptical and hated to burst her bubble.

"Well, maybe with the aid of wires," Helena said, ever the detective she was trying to see how this worked. The name Grayson seemed familiar to her somehow, but she couldn't really put that piece together.

Was it someone that she knew when she was younger? Perhaps but she gritted her teeth in frustration when her memory failed her. That happened at the worst possible time.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show," Harry whispered to his wife and Helena smiled, leaning back with a grimace.

She could see that her alternate universe father was sitting several rows down and about four or five seats to her right. Helena blinked, it was odd how she kept running into her ever so briefly. Selina Kyle sat there, although she was busy talking to another female and didn't really make eye contact with her.

"And they're off ladies and gentlemen, and an acrobatic maneuver where they've just defied a plunge that would bring everyone to their death."

The crowd went wild and Helena shifted after a second but then she saw that Selina slipped off into the ground. The roar of the crowd heightened at the insane stunt from up above.

"And the youngest Grayson makes it, it's unbelievable."

"No wires yet," Barbara muttered peering high from the sky. She blanched when she studied the rope in a critical manner. "That rope doesn't look very safe…."

Harry looked up suddenly, along with Helena looked up as well.

Barbara had a point, the rope that was hanging from the trapeze didn't look very safe at all, and the two adult Graysons were going to perform a death defying stunt.

"Oh, that was…"

The announcer stopped suddenly, when the rope gave way and creaked. The adult Graysons dangled in a death defying manner and they only had seconds to realize that their fate was doomed.

There were a few people in the crowd that cheered, thinking that this was all part of the show, and so did the circus hands that were watching from below.

"MOM, DAD!" Rebecca yelled and she could see the rope give away, her eyes widening.

Everything flashed before them and suddenly, both of them were down on the ground.

"Must have been a stunt double," said some loud mouth from the crowd and Rebecca turned around, upset.

She saw the same man who was arguing with Mr. Haly earlier slip into the crowd. He stopped when she spotted him. The man made eye contact with her for a second, almost committing her details to memory, before slipped off.

"Ladies and gentlemen….the show's over," the announcer said in a hushed voice, his bombastic demeanor being completely thrown off. If this was a part of the act, he was not let in on it and the medic that was on hand made his way to the ground.

"He's not moving, she's not breathing, someone call an ambulance, this is not a show, I repeat this is not part of the show!"

Gordon sat in the crowd, a night at the Circus turned into a murder investigation. Most people figured out really quickly that this wasn't part of the show and so they freaked up.

Harry and Helena exchanged a look and both of them were thinking the same thing, this was not an accident, this was murder. The real question was who did it? They looked up at the youngest Grayson who looked completely horrified beyond belief.

No one could blame her, she saw her parents brutally slain before her eyes.

* * *

"I can't believe it, I can't believe it…..I tried to warn them….I tried to warn them…" Rebecca said and she tried to repeat this as a mantra, shaking her head.

Her eyes widened when she saw the Circus cleaned up. She kept muttering things underneath her breath. Try as she might, she couldn't reassure herself that it wasn't her fault.

"Sorry, Miss Grayson, your parents died on the way to the hospital," one of the circus hands said in an apologetic voice and James Gordon was standing at the edge of the door, talking to a young Asian female officer.

"But….they didn't….." Rebecca said and she took a deep breath to calm herself.

It failed big time.

"It's okay, here take this," Gordon said, handing her a handkerchief to watch her eyebrow. "I'm Lieutenant James Gordon, this is Detective Ellen Yin….."

He pointed out the woman. The girl only barely acknowledge her, she was lost in a world of grief. Rebecca nodded, folding her hands over her lap and she sighed, it was rather frustrating what she was trying to say.

Especially given that she just learned that her parents had died and wouldn't be coming back.

"I tried to warn them…..there was someone out there…..with Mr. Haly…..and…..it was time to go out," Rebecca said and she looked like she was about to blue screen right then and there, she sighed completely. The eleven year old girl was buried underneath a huge amount of stress.

Yin frowned. "You couldn't have known….just calm down….it will be okay."

She sat down next to the girl and she nodded, still looking rather distressed.

"Has anyone seen Haly?" Gordon asked some of the performers.

"I did," the strongman grunted and he looked rather uncomfortable for someone who was so big and imposing. Gordon turned around to face him, raising a surprised eyebrow. "He was having words with Zucco…..third time this week….."

"Zucco….Zucco," Gordon whispered, suddenly he was racking his brain.

It was a name that he heard a few times. Not for good reason.

"What did they say to each other?" Gordon prodded.

"He told the guy to hit the bricks, and…well he left, and I thought that was the end of it," the strongman said, he didn't really feel that comfortable with that, given that it lead to the death of two people.

"Zucco….does this Zucco have a first name?" Gordon asked, he was pretty much putting two and two together.

If this was the same Zucco he thought that it was, things were going to go insane pretty quickly.

"Ah, I don't know, he never said, and Haly always said to drop the subject, saying that he was nothing like a pompous blowhard," the Strongman said and he felt really bad for the kid but shit like this could have happened at any time. It was just unfortunate that it had to happen in front of this many people.

"He was out there in the crowd," Rebecca said and Yin turned towards her. "I saw that guy and….he looked at me and he left….disappeared when all of the people were running around…."

"That could be a problem," Gordon whispered to Yin who nodded in response.

The fact of the matter was that if the Grayson Girl made eye contact with Zucco, she was the prime witness. Given who Zucco worked for that put her in a lot of danger. There have been grown men who have gotten hurt when caught in the middle of Maroni's business, and all indications was that this was the situation.

"You know she'll be in danger," Harry said, turning up next to Gordon and Gordon turned around to face him, with Barbara standing next to him.

"Barbara, you know this is an official police investigation…."

"I know that," Barbara said and she looked in her father's eye. "But you can't deny that Harry has a point."

Gordon sighed, he had a point, but that wasn't the point.

"I'm not denying it…."

"We got a witness," another cop said, returning from outside. "They said that they saw Haly get into a car in a hurry…..not sure if he went in on his own or someone picked him up."

Gordon knew that this situation was not as cut and dry as it might have seemed at first. At first, he assumed that this was some extortion racket. There was another angle he could consider. He wondered if Haly made some kind of deal with something that he shouldn't to get the Circus to come to Gotham City.

"File it as a kidnapping right now," Gordon told him and the cop nodded in response. "Yin, could you stay here and keep an eye on Miss Grayson."

"Yes, Lieutenant Gordon," Yin said, not taking her eye off the girl in question.

"We might have to put her into protective custody, and we need to keep wear underneath wraps…..because you know that if this gets back to the wrong person, the entire investigation will be….."

"I know," Yin said, she looked at Gordon and sighed. "Go do what you have to do…"

Gordon suddenly ran into Bruce Wayne when he was about ready to leave. Wayne and Gordon made eye contact for a second.

"So, what will happen to me?" Rebecca asked, and she couldn't believe this.

"I don't know sweetie…..but it's too dangerous to stay at the Circus," Yin said and Rebecca balled her fists up by her side and gave the Detective a challenging look.

"I can take care of myself," she said and Yin nodded.

"I know that you think that you can," Yin said and suddenly she saw Harry Potter hovering in the background ,along with James Gordon's daughter.

"If push comes to shove, I have a place where she can be safe," Harry said, and Yin looked at him.

"We won't rule you out," she said and she like many others was curious about Harry Potter. Then again, he did have that air of mystery. He did seem to be on the level without a hint of criminal involvement which was odd for someone so mysterious.

Alex sat herself down next to Rebecca and the girl turned towards her, and Rebecca looked at her.

"I lost my parents when I was really young," Alex told her and she sighed. "It's…..not easy."

"I can see that," Rebecca said and things were getting really awkward, because there was really no idea what they could say.

"And it must be worse because you actually got to know your parents and now you'll…..well you'll never see them again," Alex said and she frowned, wishing she could console the girl a bit better. "Harry told me that things might seem like they're going to get better but it's going to be hard…"

"I'll be fine, I can take care of myself," she persisted but she could see that there are people crowding around.

The person that took out her parents, killed them, he was out there somewhere. She didn't know where they were but she knew that they were out there.

She wondered if any of the adults believed her.

"Alex, are you ready to go?" Harry asked and she opened her mouth.

"What about….."

"Mr. Wayne has agreed to take her in, if that's fine," Harry said and Alex stared at Harry.

Rebecca was taken ajar about that. She honestly didn't think too much about her living arrangements. She was shell shocked about what happened.

"Um….I guess that would be fine," Rebecca said, she didn't know what to believe but then again, her entire world had been turned upside down.

It was something that she wouldn't get over any time soon. The dark haired young girl shook her head and tried to make sense of things that were very difficult to make sense of. One thing was for sure, she didn't really know what to expect.

Rebecca got up to her feet and Bruce waved her over to talk to her. She was so in a funk that she didn't notice Helena watching her closely.

'_She'll be okay, for now,' _Helena thought.

'_Will she be?' _Harry asked.

'_Yeah, Wayne Security actually is good, if the Manor is like anything in my world,' _Helena said.

The kidnapping attempts on her didn't work out too well for anyone. That was before her mother got her hands on the would be kidnappers.

Harry and Helena turned to each other, both of them had a lot of work to do tonight.

Looking over his shoulder, Harry saw a shady figure standing in the shadows. He raised his hand and caused him to trip over his face. After he got tripped off, the gun slipping harmlessly from his hand.

The GCPD's finest pounced on him suddenly and Yin watched, with her mouth opened.

"I better come with you, to make sure you get home safely," Yin told Wayne and he nodded.

Rebecca could see that she was this close to joining her parents and she know new what it was like to have her entire life race before her. Up hundreds of feet in the air, she felt safe, but down here, she felt really vulnerable.

* * *

Tony Zucco sweated like a pig in the suit as he was talking frantically with one of his men on the phone.

"What do you mean…someone was asking questions, well you didn't tell them anything did you?" Zucco asked and he shifted anxiously, he felt like he was going to have heart failure. This extortion racket wasn't going anywhere. "Well you better not have…..I'm not going to tell you where I am, do you realize that someone could be listening to this line…..yeah burn it all…..it looks bad enough as it is."

He intended to kill all three of the acrobats but he only got two of them and the brat saw him. What was worse, the guy that he sent to snuff her out didn't come back and he might have gotten caught. The clumsy bastard tripped over his feet and security would be picked up around her.

Then half of his men were taken out by a mysterious shadow. Zucco heard about the Bat, but he had dismissed the entire mess as a bunch of BS. Now this latest incident was too much to dismiss as any type of coincidence.

There was only one thing to do and that was call in a favor from the boss. Zucco didn't want to do it and he knew that Maroni was butting heads with the bird. Zucco could get a fuck less about that. He needed Maroni's help and he needed it now. The boss owed him a favor after he deflected the heat off of him for all of these years.

He dialed the phone, waiting nervously for it to pick up on the other end. It rang a couple of times and Zucco closed his eyes.

"What do you want, Zucco?" Maroni asked in a short tempered voice.

"How did you know it was me…"

"Oh, call it a dumb hunch, you stupid bastard," Maroni grumbled and his mood was really foul right now and Zucco wondered if he even dare ask. Maroni didn't wait for him to ask because he was ready to enlighten him on it anyway. "You've always been causing a lot of trouble with your games and you know what, I've had it about up to here with it all…I'm not in the best mood to begin with all that's going on. You just happened to drop a lot more shit on my lap."

Zucco thought that was unfair. He prepared to argue his face, even though he thought he just might be fighting a losing battle.

"Boss, I didn't….."

"Do you realize who just showed up at my club and caused me a fucking headache?" Maroni asked quietly and Zucco knew better than to respond. "It was the Bat….."

"He exists….."

"Yeah, all we need to do is confirm the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, and they can form their own rock band," Maroni said, his voice rather snappy. His hot temper boiled over to the surface. "Zucco, you're a useless son of a bitch, and you fucked up…..good thing that I was able to clear up enough of your loose ends…the Circus…..you could have gone for any other business…..but I guess that you have some affinity for the Circus."

"Why do you say that, boss?" Zucco asked curiously.

"Because you're nothing but a fucking clown, numbnuts," Maroni growled. He would have loved nothing better to bury a gun down Zucco's throat and unload the entire clip into his gut. "And you left a witness!"

Zucco prepared to defend that. The witness could be taken care of, he just needed more time.

"Just a kid….."

"A kid that was talking to one of the cops in Gotham City that we can't put in our back pocket, and you could kill her now, but that would really raise suspicion on us, so guess you fucked that one up," Maroni said and Zucco continued to sweat. "If the Bat comes knocking down your door, then…..well I can't be held responsible for anything that might happen to you."

Zucco's heart pounded harder and he was really getting closer to having that heart failure that might push him over the edge. He breathed deeply and managed to calm himself down.

"You didn't tell him where I was, did you?"

"I know that you look it, but I'm not stupid," Maroni fired back, frothing at the mouth a little bit. "But anything from here on out, that's on your head, and don't be surprised if he's come knocking at your door any second now."

That put the fear of god in the rotund mobster. Zucco looked in the corner with shadows moving and he nervously twitched, his breath knocked out of his body. Maroni hung up, obviously not having a very good day.

"There's nothing there, nothing at all, nothing to worry about," Zucco said and he clutched his hands around the desk and pulled out a shotgun.

He would shoot first and ask questions never, anyone who came through this door without knocking.

* * *

It was back to the Circus for Huntress and Arcane. They were here on a mission. Both of them prepared to look for that one piece of tangible evidence that would lead them to the person behind this.

'_I don't even need to tell you who is behind this,' _Helena thought.

There was only one rat who could do something this brutal. The fact Rebecca survived in the first place was an accident. She was alive but not okay.

'_We know it's Zucco, you know it's Zucco, but we need to find him,' _Harry thought and Barbara chimed in.

'_Right, I'm running background checks on the guy, he has a few aliases, and he's been one step ahead of anyone who tried to track him…..someone in that shape staying one step ahead of anyone….'_

Barbara allowed the snarky response she had regarding Zucco running.

'_He had to have help,' _Helena commented calmly and that was something that was agreed to by all.

Harry activated a little device in his mask that allowed him to do a quick sweep of the area around him and there were people who were lurking around and it wasn't just cops.

He repelled to the platform where the Grayson's did their act. He didn't know what he found but he scanned the area.

Helena kept watch on the ground and she saw someone lurking around in the shadows. She pulled out a throwing dagger and threw it at him.

It caught his sleeve in the curtain and Helena walked over, pulling him into the light.

"I'm just a roadie…um….what are you doing here?" the guy asked, whimpering, having the air of someone who got his hand caught in the cookie jar.

Harry didn't buy his story for a moment. He smelled a huge line of BS from a mile away. This guy reeked of it.

"Some roadie, aren't these guys a made of a bit more stronger stuff?"

"Alright, I get coffee for the main acts," the young man said, his bravado failing really correctly. "Job doesn't pay that much, but it helps put me through college…"

"It might not pay that much but someone else could have slipped you something underneath the table, you have access to all of the areas of the Circus, including the rafters," Arcane said and the many flinched. "Does the name Tony Zucco ring a bell?"

"Zucco….Zucco…..I never met the guy, I swear," the circus hand said and he was sweating profusely.

His pain only was about ready to begin when Huntress repelled him up to the rafters. He screamed like a little girl when she dangled upside down.

"Think of what the Graysons felt when their rope was about to give way, think about what you'll feel if my hand slips, and think about what their daughter saw when her parents dropped to their doom," Helena whispered and she dangled the hand above.

"I swear…."

She was holding onto him by his coat sleeve and pulled him up.

"I found a can of gasoline back there where he was, it seems like someone was trying to get rid of the evidence, so he didn't get implicated," Arcane said and Huntress dangled her prey upside down and he whimpered.

"Please….please….Zucco just told me to replace the ropes with a different kind of rope, I thought…I thought it was going to be okay."

"You knew exactly what you were doing," Huntress said and she let him drop.

The circus hand screamed and Harry casually waved his hand, causing a net to fall at the last possible second.

He breathed in and out. He thanked God, he would have thanked anyone for not being a big splatter on the ground.

"Next time, you fall without a net like the Graysons, so tell me exactly what was happening."

The threat of death caused the man to sing like a canary.

"Right, Zucco was willing to fund the circus, take it to new heights, but Haly….he decided to go back on the deal…and he wanted to send a message…."

"You knew what you were doing this entire time, didn't you?"

There was another figure that loomed in the shadows and Huntress turned around to face him. She had forgotten that particular version of the costume.

"So, you're on the same trail, aren't you?"

**To Be Continued on September 29****th****, 2014.**

* * *

**Business is about to pick up here.**

**There are a few characters that are changing genders to female. Why? I'll give you the simplest and most direct answer that I can. Because. Just because I'm the author and that's what I want to do. There is no reason more sinister and convoluted than that. **

**I did enjoy how Rebecca came off. I actually thought about including Dick in there too, as her twin brother, but he would have been offed with his parents. Maybe I should have. I would have had people out for my blood, and I don't think that I can kill off Mr. Grayson. He's one of the few male characters that I like in comics and one of the few that I might ever consider doing as a lead, other than Harry(who isn't technically comics, but I consider him a DC character, and I've given She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named full dominion of the Harry Potter series. That's obviously what Rowling subconsciously wanted, but I've had that rant before), Clark, Peter, and Conner. **

**Unless I use a male OC, which I might as well just use Har-Zod to begin with anyway. **

**Yin's cameo is just that, unless something changes. **

**I did enjoy Maroni and Zucco's interaction and how that came across. You can tell that Sal is pissed. This leads to a cross city gangwar that's really not a main plot, but mostly something going on in the background that will be reference from time to time. One could argue that there's always a gang war going on in Gotham City of some sign.**

**Special Monday chapter for Part Two, because I had to switch the schedule around. **


	22. Fallen Part Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Fallen Part Two. **

* * *

A true meeting of the minds were about to take place. Huntress and Arcane came face to face with the one and only Batman. He reached up and placed his arm around his wife.

This meeting not only was inevitable but to be honest, Harry expected it to happen sooner or later and he could tell from his wife's body language, she expected the same thing. The stage hand tried to get away but he was not having the best of luck, especially with an extra set of eyes.

"Yes, we have," Huntress said calm and cool as could be. Her arms rested over each other underneath her chest. She knew why he had vested interest, but it would be wise to not let him know that she knew.

Any reaction that she could have, it would let him find out and that wasn't what she wanted to deal with. The blue eyes of the Huntress locked onto the steely gaze of Batman.

"You're a long way from Metropolis," Batman said, turning over towards Arcane with a calm expression on his face.

Helena almost forgot how territorial her father could be. It had been an extremely long time.

"Figured that I'd drop by, considering that there was a gross injustice that happened in your part of time," Arcane answered in his most icy tone and he was not about to back off. Batman could play that Alpha Male game all that he wanted.

He wasn't going to win it, not against Harry anyway.

'_Oh boy, clash of the titans right here,' _Barbara thought, and the fangirl in her was excited to see what was going to happen but the crime fighter in her bitch slapped the fangirl back into line and made her stay focused. They had an extremely important investigation to deal with.

Helena could sense Barbara's amusement and very nearly cracked a smile. Emphasis should be put on the nearly part. She kept herself in line. She wondered what the World's Greatest Detective would have to make of this.

"He says that someone called Zucco paid him to change the ropes," Arcane explained, trying to get a sense of what was going through Batman's head.

It was obvious that Batman was in the same mind as him. That made things just that much more easier. He didn't believe this guy's story at all and the Dark Knight Detective's steely gaze flowed over the man, who backed off, with a long and prominent gulp.

"Tony Zucco, he was one of the chief members of the Maroni mob, in fact he was Maroni's second in command," Batman said and Arcane blinked.

"Note the past tense."

"Word is it that they had a falling out, with Zucco's extortion racket causing Maroni more problems then he would have liked," Batman said and he didn't smile, he didn't give any indication that he had anything to do with these problems.

It was something that was understood.

'_Oh you know that he's ran into Maroni more than few times, left him hanging, guy might have a couple of teeth missing…he's said to be away on business at least right now, but I can dig deeper into that,' _Barbara thought and Harry smiled.

'_Would you, thanks, I need to know the type of people that he might be in bed with, so I can figure out how to wrap this up.'_

Barbara did just as she was asked and dug deep into the Maroni files. She was confident that she could find something interesting that would push this investigation to an entirely new level.

"So, he doesn't know much of anything, he was just a tool, I'm surprised that Maroni didn't have him diposed of yet, or Zucco didn't….." Helena said but Harry put his hand up.

'_Spoke too soon, I think,' _Barbara said and she could see what they saw.

Batman was already gone as quickly as he started.

'_So, is this how everyone else sees me?' _Helena asked and Karen smiled.

'_Yes,' _Karen thought, enjoying her sister wife's annoyance at the sudden disappearing act of the World's Greatest Detective because the shoe was finally firmly on the other foot.

That being said, there was something that was happening in the shadows and there was a thump, where two men fell to the ground.

'_Well, service with a scowl,' _Kara thought, she could see why any of the criminals would fear Batman, he didn't mess around.

"So, the Circus left town early, I see," one of the thugs said, trying to make small talk but Batman wasn't having it, he smashed him into some pieces of wood. "Hey, watch the face, you know, the chicks did that…"

Batman nailed him hard again and made sure to hit him directly in the face.

"Talk, what were you doing here?"

"Looking for Zucco…..he might have been around tying up this loose end, and there's someone high up that wants him tied up after he….."

The thug got silent but it was too late, Batman jumped on his statement like a rather intense shark smelling blood.

"After what?" Batman asked and the thug shivered and he opened his mouth, and one could argue that he was intensely brave or insanely stupid for ignoring Batman when he gave him a direct inquiry.

Huntress watched, she wouldn't have felt sorry for this thug, but she almost did. She knew that Batman wouldn't kill him, no matter how much the bastard deserved it. That would have broken his code, the same code that got him in trouble.

She supposed that it wouldn't matter anyway. The thug might have died from heart failure when he was dropped from a certain height and then pulled back up.

"Well you see…..this entire Circus thing…..well you know it's a Circus, and the boss he doesn't want any of those loose ends hanging around and Zucco is a loose end…..and so is the old man….but I don't know….he might already be in the harbor by all I know, all I know that he isn't here, is he?"

Another thug tried to get up. He couldn't get away with anything. Huntress knocked him out with a spinning back hand punch and caused him to crumple against the wall.

"You're welcome," Huntress said, and she held her crossbow on the thug, grinding her heel into his chest, drawing a little bit of blood.

'_And to think that I might have be the tame one out of this entire crew,' _Harry thought and he shook his head in amusement.

'_So that's kind of scary, isn't it?' _Karen asked but never the less, Barbara had hit the jackpot.

'_I might have an idea where Zucco might hide out, at least the general area,' _Barbara said and she fed the information to Harry so he could share it for the entire crew.

It was as viable of a location as anything else, what did they have to lose? Harry smiled, when they set out to hunt down Zucco.

The bastard deserved to fry for what he did and there were a few other things that he deserved to go down for.

* * *

Zucco felt like the hunted, and he was trying to get to the car that was waiting. His mind was running a million miles a minute. His mouth ran even faster. The larger man could be seconds away from having a heart attack.

"This is nuts, the boss threw me away like a cheap tissue and…now this," Zucco said and his hands were sweaty.

He had heard that the Bat was nosing around a lot of places. Even though it had been two days since what happened, he already felt like he aged about twenty or so years. He tried to keep his breath from being lost. The mobster's ragged breathing continued to heightened and he shook his head. Nuts didn't even begin to cover what he felt.

"Okay Tony, easy does it, you've been through worse, you just got to go under ground…make sure you get all of that in the trunk," Zucco said and he knew when he was moved into the bunker, he would take these goons out.

They were pretty disposable. Some of the might have been competent. He had enough to go under ground for about six months. Hopefully by then a gang war would break out as they tended to do in Gotham City and Tony Zucco would have been able to worm his way back into society, at least that was the idea.

Whether or not he would succeed in any way shape or form it remained to be seen. There was a lot going against him. The rotund mobster knew that much.

"What the fuck is the hold up?" Zucco growled underneath his breath.

"Boss, there's something wrong with the transmission, the car won't start," one of the boys said and Zucco cursed his luck.

Of all the dumbshit rotten luck, he would have to have a piece of shit car that wouldn't start when he wanted it to start. He might as well just lay back with the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger right now.

Zucco picked up his cell phone. There was more bad news coming on through. His contact at the GCPD said that he was wanted.

The stooge that he paid off squealed on him and backed up the kid's eye witness testimony. He also hinted that if the wrong cops found him, he wouldn't be heading to prison, he would be heading to the morgue. Maroni must have sent the word that he was a liability and for the cops in his pocket to take action.

'_The boss really is pissed off,' _he thought and he should have skipped town after the Circus but everything that went wrong, did in fact go wrong. His heart raced again.

"Did you fucking get that fixed yet?" Zucco asked and he looked through the bushes.

BANG!

He unloaded a round into a bird, boy he was jumping as fuck. His hands shook madly and his palms got extremely sweaty.

'_That son of a bitch, I swear if I ever have a chance I'll….'_

BANG!

That wasn't for Zucco's end, the man who was fixing the transmission had been knocked over and suddenly, his other bodyguard turned around. That was his final action before he got hit right in the chest. He had no chance against the man who shot him.

That was his cue to run on foot. Despite the adrenaline that was pumping through the veins of Tony Zucco, someone of his size, he didn't run too far or too fast. He was panting, bent over clutching his chest and wheezing. He couldn't catch a breath and therefore he couldn't really catch a break. It seemed like no matter how far he ran, there was someone who was right behind him.

They were practically up against his ass. The man who had been dubbed Fat Tony cursed himself for not losing a few pounds.

"This is bullshit," Zucco spat, and he looked around, pointing his weapon with a completely shaky hand and shivered. "Show yourself, show yourself you son of a bitch."

He knew that this was the bat and he could see one of his bodyguards down on the trail, bleeding from the chest.

"Sorry, Zucco, but we got to tie up the loose ends."

Zucco was about ready to fire back, but his hand was shot, causing his gun to clatter to the ground. His entire life flashed before him when he cursed his luck.

"You brought down things that you couldn't imagine on our own house…when you disrupt the family business, you hurt the family. Your racket was fun but you got too greedy and it doesn't work when money doesn't get put in my back pocket."

Two more shots plugged Zucco and the man could barely breathe now. A third shot to the heart brought him down.

"Make sure that his body is found, want this to serve as a message that we're not to be fucked around," a man said, stepping out of the shadows. He was wearing full GCPD SWAT gear, and his two companions were wearing gear. "Clear out the car, and his little shack, I want it burned, we don't have much time….."

The SWAT had had been hired out to do a little job for one of their chief benefactors nodded. They spread out, leaving Tony Zucco on the trail. The lead SWAT member lifted his gun one more time, his face in the shadows and one bullet connected to the back of Zucco's head.

One could never be too careful in circumstances like this. The mobster bled on the trail completely and without a question deceased.

* * *

Had Arcane shown up about ten minutes earlier, he would have seen what happened. He would have caught who did it.

The only thing that he saw was a burning car. It looked like some beaten down rust bucket. Someone tried to fill up things really fast.

He shielded himself and the other two with him from the explosion. The nasty smell of gasoline filled the trail.

"Someone got to Zucco before we did," Batman said, taking a step forward and sure enough, barbequed human remains could be spotted at the end of an extremely beaten trail.

The smell was really overpowering and it made Harry sick to his stomach and he could handle a lot.

'_So do you think it was the mob or the GCPD?' _Helena asked Barbara.

'_I don't know, if it was the GCPD they must have done this outside of their frequency, so they're learning,' _Barbara thought but she hacked into the computer of the lead SWAT commander, and she managed to recover a deleted e-mail sent to him from Salvatore Maroni. _'Not well enough…'_

"There's Zucco," Helena said and Harry slowly turned, to see Zucco nailed to a tree, his arms and legs spread in the crucifix position.

He was dead before they even got there, and the bastard was hung up to dry like a martyr. With the number of times he had been shot, there was no chance for survival at all.

"So, they didn't want anyone to get to Zucco," Harry said and he brushed his hair back out of his eyes and sigh.

'_So, what about Maroni?' _Barbara asked.

While Batman couldn't hear the mission support that Harry had for obvious reasons, he did manage to come up with an appropriate response. "Maroni's gone, he's out of Gotham City, until the heat is gone."

Helena looked at her alternate dimension father with a calm expression on her face. "Where do you think that he could have gone?"

"He could have gone as close as Bludhaven, he could have skipped the country completely," Batman said in a nonchalant voice and they both nodded.

Harry thought that any theory could be potentially viable, at least in his opinion they could have been.

"The only thing that matters is that he's not here," Harry replied and he wanted to have another look around because there was something about this entire crime scene that was unsettling. "It was the SWAT."

"Unsurprising," Batman said and Harry could tell that he had dealings with the SWAT.

'_There's a seven figure bounty for any SWAT member that brings in the Batman, dead or alive, but his face has to be intact enough to figure out who is underneath the mask,' _Barbara thought and she sighed. _'If only they put that much effort into going after the criminals, Gotham City would be a lot safer place.'_

'_Maybe,' _Harry thought, although he was skeptical about it. Then again, it was criminals who were posing as law-enforcement going after a would-be vigilante.

One could debate until they were blue in the face about who was in the right about that one. Regardless of who was, one thing was for sure. There was a distinct case of misplaced priorities.

'_Well, that might be cynical but I guess that you're right,' _Barbara thought, her father, god bless him, was able to do a lot but he was only one man.

There were other good cops on the force, but a good cop can become a bad cop in one cruel instant. It was just a matter of finding the right price tag to entice them into doing something.

'_Of course, I don't like it any more than you do,' _Harry thought and he could see Batman scanning Zucco's remains for anything out of the ordinary, morbid as that might sound.

He needed to slowly build up a case of what he could find.

Therefore the mental communication really worked out well to be honest.

"He fired at least one shot," Batman concluded when he had got the data that he needed.

"I'll check the medical records," Arcane said and that was obviously Barbara's cue to go in.

'_Oddly enough no gunshot admissions in the hospital for the last eight hours,' _Barbara thought, which was strange. _'Then again, that isn't really an indictment for anything, given that whoever he shot….if he shot anyone, could have went completely off of the grid.'_

'_I'm sure that's possible,' _Helena said, they were running around in circles.

"Zucco's death isn't the end of this all, he was merely a loose end that Maroni needed to tie up," Batman said, looking towards Arcane and Huntress.

He didn't really work well with others but given that they were involved in this situation, he figured that it was common courtesy to tell them what exactly was up. Or at least what he thought was going on here.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Harry answered, placing his hand underneath his chin and looking extremely thoughtful at what was going down.

He was about ready to ask a question but Batman was gone.

And that was just as well because the sirens of approaching police could be heard.

'_If he's gone then we should be as well,' _Helena thought and she smiled. _'Thank you for your help Barbara…..we'll meet you back after a little bit….we need to go pick up Alex and it's back on the plane to Metropolis….if you're willing to go with us.'_

'_Hey, I have a job open at RAO, so I think that I might have to stick around, besides I want to learn about the system that I was unable to hack, and make sure other people don't try,' _Barbara thought.

'_Using your evil skills for good, I guess that I approve of that,' _Kara said.

Zucco was left nailed to the tree, an unsettling scene to leave someone. They were sure that the police would find him like that and would have their own explanations. Even if it was painfully obvious that someone on the force gunned him down and left him like that.

* * *

"You didn't really do that," Rebecca said, her mouth opened.

Alex found herself annoyed by the indignation of the other girl and called her out on it.

"I did…..I don't even know why you're surprised, you spent half of your life above the ground on the high wire, so why wouldn't it be possible?" Alex asked.

"But how did you make the jump?" Rebecca asked and Alex smiled, shrugging her shoulders. The two girls were sitting around Wayne Manor, with Alfred hovering in the background.

Normally a butler might not be the best security. Unless you consider one fact and that fact was this butler was packing a couple of surprises, like a shotgun and some military training. Therefore one could argue that Alfred was some rock tight security.

"So, Harry is your….."

"Cousin, can't you tell, we have the same green eyes," Alex said and Rebecca shook her head.

"Well, he's interesting, I guess….." Rebecca said with a shrug of her shoulders and suddenly, Bruce came up from the stairs. "So, you're back from your meeting?"

"Sorry about that," Bruce commented when he showed up. "But…..I was talking to the GCPD…Lieutenant Gordon informed me that the man who killed your parents…..he was found dead."

"Oh….." Rebecca said not knowing what exactly to say. She had a feeling that saying that this was good might not be the best thing, no matter how much he deserved it. She turned to Alex. "Did the guy who kill your parents…"

"Yes, he's all gone, and so are his followers," Alex said and Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "He was a cult leader."

Rebecca nodded, she supposed that made sense.

"I understand that the only family that you have left is your great aunt, but she's getting on in age, isn't that correct?" Bruce asked and Rebecca nodded in response. "So, if you want to, you can stay at Wayne Manor for the time being. The GCPD prefers that you stay in Gotham City until the investigation on the murders is considered closed."

"Really?" Rebecca asked, she was overwhelmed. Sure her parents provided for her, but this place was so big. Her entire house that being the trailer that they stayed in, could fit in Bruce's study alone and still have room enough to spare.

"I think and I'm sure that you're agree that it would be far more dangerous to go back to the circus after that…..but again the choice is yours…..and maybe you should think about it for a little bit and get back to me," Bruce said but it was obvious that Rebecca already had made up her mind.

There was a knock on the door that caused both girls to become alert.

"I guess, that's my cue to go," Alex said and she turned towards Rebecca, giving her a warm hug. "But the two of us….we're going to have to stay in touch."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Rebecca said, she was barely able to keep the smile off of her face at the thought of that but she shook her head.

She never had a pen pal before, and Alex jotted down her address, to hand to Rebecca. With that done, it was time to go. She parted ways with her, and saw that Bruce was already talking to Helena and Harry about something.

"So, it looks like she's going to stay here…..yes, I know that you said that you might take her in, but given that the investigation is ongoing, the GCPD wants her to stick close to Gotham, but with Zucco gone, things should be much easier," Bruce said and Alex ran into Harry, with Harry scooping her up, not being fooled by one second by the yawn that she tried to stifle.

She draped herself onto his shoulder as he held her up by one arm.

"Just let me know if you need anything," Harry said and Bruce looked at him.

"I believe that I got it all covered….."

"Monetary wise perhaps, but there are some considerations that money might not be able to handle, just know, that if you need help…"

That was about as direct of an admission as Harry was going to give and Helena turned towards him, questioning him.

'_So, he was going to figure it out anyway sooner rather than later, they didn't call him the World's Greatest Detective for anything,' _Harry said and Helena nodded in response, she would have to concede to that point.

'_But did you have to push the bread crumbs directly underneath his nose like that?' _she asked him and Harry smiled.

'_Well not really I didn't, but I figured that if we need to work together and we will because there's a gang war going on…..I think if I gave him that big of a hint, he knows,' _Harry said, his statement getting misdirected upon the way.

'_I'll be keeping a close eye on her, because I know the type, she's going to want to be a part of that world sooner or later, because of what happened to her parents,' _Helena thought. _'She's only there as a temporary measure though, but…..'_

'_Temporary can mean a long time when the wheels of justice move slowly, but I'm sure that we'll be seeing a lot of her regardless,' _Harry thought, when he looked at her. _'Bruce got an upgrade in security without knowing it, whether he likes it or not. At least for as long as Rebecca has to stay in Gotham City.'_

'_Oh, I'm sure that he'd be thrilled that you went and did that behind his back,' _Helena thought.

'_You know, I don't care,' _Harry thought.

'_What about Maroni?' _Helena asked and Harry smiled at her.

'_Guy looks to be a slippery one from what I can find out but he can't hide out forever, we'll flush him out of the sewers like the snake that he is,' _Harry thought.

Really he wondered how deep this went and whether Maroni would be clipped by someone. It seemed extremely likely that he could eventually.

Time would only prove to be the judge of that.

Barbara was waiting for them outside of the drive and she could not help but keep a grin off of her face when the two of them approached her.

"So, are you ready to go?" Barbara asked and all three of them nodded.

"Depends on if you're ready to go yourself," Helena said, with a smile.

There was no need for the group to rush. The best thing about having their own private jet is that they didn't have to wait around for a flight to happen. They could leave any time.

"I just have to pick up a few things from my apartment, and I'll be ready to leave," Barbara said.

She had thought about moving away from Gotham City for a while. This spontaneous Vegas marriage thing just sped up the time table a little bit more.

There was someone that said that no one ever permanently leaves Gotham City, well unless it was inside a bodybag. Morbid thought was extremely morbid but never the less, Barbara was on her way ready to leave for a brand new adventure in Metropolis.

She didn't think that she would lack any excitement, especially with the company she kept.

* * *

Speaking of people who had business to take care of in Metropolis, Salvatore Maroni exited the vehicle, wearing sunglasses with a fake wig. He looked rather absurd but that was the idea. He needed to get across this city without a business meeting.

This city had their own vigilantes to worry about. He knew that much. None of them were shit your pants quality like the Bat was. Although there was less of a revolving door system in the prisons in this city, and most certainly not a place like Arkham.

Getting away from those Arkham nutjobs for a little bit also made Salvatore think that the change of scenery would be the most ideal. He needed a vacation from the likes of them.

"I'm here to see Mr. Edge," Maroni whispered and the young secretary nodded.

"He's waiting for you, sir," the secretary said, being in this line of business she knew a little bit about discretion.

Maroni took the long walk up the stairs, he would have thought that someone like Edge would have sprung for an elevator by now. He did have money, third only to Lionel Luthor and Harry Potter in this city.

That being said, Maroni knocked on the door and impatiently he waited for it to be answered. The door creaked open and a rather fairly fit for his age man with silver hair, dressed in a pinstripe suit and holding a cane answered it.

"Maroni, come in, and shut the door behind you," Edge said and it was obvious this particular man was not in the best frame of mind and he might have had his own problems. "Have you heard about what's been going on….."

"I heard your boy Mannheim's been having trouble dealing with the bird, and I've had my own trouble dealing with him and then there was the Toyman thing…"

"The Penguin is in talks with Lionel Luthor, and that could prove that Intergang's days in Metropolis might be numbered…."

"Ah, but you're an institution, in Metropolis and I thought that Mannheim got his hands on a lot of Star Wars shit…"

"I don't know, I heard the rumors but Mannheim has sworn to me that it's a bunch of BS and I had some men look around and I believe it," Edge said, he wouldn't be surprised if Ugly Mannheim pulled one little double cross. The man was ambitious enough to try.

Even though his next residence would be in a ditch when Edge took him out but the bastard would try, he knew that much.

"Oh, well I'm sure that he might be saying all of the good things. I don't know about that, someone like that, he's bound to screw you….."

"You took care of Zucco didn't you….."

"Torched all the evidence Edge, the Bat already knocked down my door…"

"I have my own problems without someone who runs around in a Halloween costume, thank you very much," Edge whispered and his voice was extremely raspy when he spoke.

He had been smoking for years, several packs a day and it showed. It wasn't killing him any faster than working in the mob.

"Is it….."

"Don't worry about it, Maroni…..but we should consider increasing our partnership with each other, because the longer that we wait, the more that all of our enemies get together and muscle us out…."

Maroni waved his hand frantically, interrupting that man. "Hey, I don't have any designs on Metropolis, so you don't have to worry about me."

"And I'd rather stay out of Gotham City," Edge said and Maroni chuckled.

"Best business decision that you could have made, Morgan," Maroni said and he looked at the media mogul by day, and crime boss by night. "So, what do you think that we're going to have to do?"

Edge picked up a huge cigar and lit it. His eyes focused on Edge when he took a long drag from it and looked thoughtful.

"We're going to figure out how to clip the bird's wings and Luthor…..well he has skeletons that can be exploited," Edge said.

"Sounds like you worked with the guy in the past," Maroni whispered and Edge nodded, but he didn't say anything and he wasn't going to go much beyond that.

* * *

Barbara Gordon made her way up to her room in the Penthouse that was hooked to the RAO tower and she whistled swiftly, her eyes growing as wide as saucers.

"Really, this is all mine, isn't it?" Barbara asked and she looked like a kid that had gotten a great gift on Christmas morning.

"You know, you seem so excited, but yes all of this is yours," Harry said and he briefly gave her the grand tour. She would find her way around everything in a matter of days. "And anything else that you need, don't hesitate to ask."

She saw the state of the art computer lab off to the side of her room and Barbara thought that she moved into the right place.

'_Don't you owe us an apology,' _Donna thought.

Kara giggled in response but Barbara folded her arms, glaring at both of her Super Best Friends Forever through the bond link.

'_What do I owe you two an apology about?' _Barbara asked, even though she knew where this was going and she knew that neither of them would allow her to hear the end of it for as long as she lived.

'_You know what you owe us an apology about,' _Kara said and she grinned in response. _'Hey, Donna…..would you like to do the honors, or should I….'_

Barbara sighed, she knew that this was coming and she knew both of them would never let her live this one down.

'_Fine, Vegas was a good idea, I was wrong, are both of you happy now?' _Barbara asked in amusement.

'_So you met Barbara's father, Donna's mother and sister…..all that's left is to take a trip to Smallville to meet….well my cousin and adopted mother,' _Kara said with a smile on her face.

'_Call ahead and see if it's okay for dinner this weekend, Saturday to be clear about things,' _Harry responded, figuring that worked into his plans quite nicely.

Kara gave her husband a mock salute. She had her own room in the tower as did Donna and Harry had a lot more bedrooms where that come from.

And Donna and Kara made it their mission in life to make sure Harry filled each and every one of them. That was their goal anyway, but that might be more of a long term project than anything else.

"So, I guess that everyone needs a hobby," Harry said, catching the tail end of Donna and Kara's conversation.

Both of them laughed in response.

"Those two need one that will get them into less trouble, you know," Barbara answered, and she shook her head, grinning in amusement, with Harry wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She kind of shivered a little bit when he pulled her in close towards him.

"Alright?" Harry asked and Barbara smirked.

"Amazing," Barbara responded and she shifted herself against Harry. "So…..you gave Donna some one on one time earlier…."

Harry ran his hands over Barbara's shoulders and that caused the redhead to flow into a land of lust and carnal desire. He was teasing her a little bit.

"Well, I think that after that crazed drunken orgy….."

'_You say that like a crazed drunken orgy is a bad thing,' _Kara answered and Barbara smiled.

'_Well, I don't think that Harry is saying that it's a bad thing, are you Harry?' _Barbara asked, looking at him with her bright eyes.

Harry smiled when he continued to run his hands over Barbara's shoulders, skimming it and caused her pleasure to heat up a little bit.

'_Never say that something like that is a bad thing,' _Harry answered, his lips curled up in amusement but he didn't say anything else other than that, when he continued to run his hands over Barbara's shoulders, causing a bit more desire to spike through her body. _'Okay?'_

Barbara responded by turning around and kissing Harry. She knew that she wanted but she wondered if she was going to get a lot more than she bargained for.

That being said, she was excited for the experience never the less.

* * *

**To Be Continued on October 3****rd**** 2014. **

**This chapter wraps up the story arc and the gang war arc continues in the background.**

**Zucco got plugged by people who obviously didn't want him talking. **

**Some things that are set up as we transition our way into the next arc. And what a way to end things during this one as well. See you on Friday. **


	23. Settling Back In

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Settling Back In. **

* * *

After that side trip to Gotham City and earlier Vegas, Harry thought that it was good to be back in Metropolis for a few days. Things had calmed down a little bit. The sales of the Red Sun phone hit a huge peak and Lana was there with the latest numbers.

"Well, we can't keep them on the shelves, and in fact, we might not be able to keep them into the warehouse for much longer," Lana told him and she was positively beaming at the sight.

She never thought that things would go this well. She saw them going pretty well but she never saw them going this well.

"We're going to have to do something about that, you know," Harry said with a smile and despite moving up in the world, Lana still had a vested interesting in continuing her duties as PA even though that was far beyond her station.

"Well I've got a couple of locations scouted out, and that will open up several new jobs…..and a few of them are located in Smallville," Lana said and she looked at him with a grin on her face, that Harry didn't miss at all.

"Are you sure that you don't have a different motive….."

"Well my main motive is helping the RAO corporation grow, but there are a few properties in Smallville that could be snatched up by LuthorCorp, but you can bring jobs back into the community and cause a lot of good people to be able to keep their land," Lana said and it was almost like she was giving a personal sale's pitch.

And she said it without taking a breath which made things that much more impressive.

"She does drive home a good point," Helena said, making her way into the room and smiling at the proposal that Lana had drawn up. She thought that this type of proposal would be best for their growing business. "We're going to pick up these properties fairly cheap."

"But at a more generous deal than Luthor will who is trying to buy them out for a fraction of what they're worth and now that the banks are closing in before the end of the year, he's going to pick them up for dirt cheap," Harry said without missing a beat or taking a breath.

That was as equally impressive in its own right.

"We can keep these people who own them in their homes," Lana said, it was obvious that this was something that she had a lot of passion for. "And I'm sure that many of those people would be valuable assets for the RAO corporation in general."

"I don't think that you needed to twist my arm about this too much and it kills two birds with one stone you know," Harry said and Lana smiled at him.

"It does, and we did discuss this a bit and Smallville after what Luthor pulled is an undeveloped area," Karen said joining the meeting with the four of them.

She was kind of in a downer mood because one of the scanners picked up a spike of energy off to the distance. It got her hopes up because when something like that normally happened, she assumed that it could have been Patricia. Unfortunately, when she checked up on it this time, it was nothing except for a dead end.

"Well, I guess that we need to put the papers in order…..and oh, I have a thing to solve your other problem…..well technically it's my problem as well," Lana said and she smiled. "And don't get me wrong, I appreciate the opportunity that you've given me and I don't mean to be ungrateful but…."

"Lana, you're not being ungrateful, after all you've done, I should have given you a big raise and a corner office," Harry said and the redhead grinned at him, enjoying the praise that he gave onto her.

There were times where a person's hard work did feel appreciated.

"Well, I wouldn't be opposed to it…"

"Maybe after Christmas, Harry said with a smile and a wink and he walked closer to her. "But anyway, you were going to tell me something."

Lana tried not to get sidetracked about this, taking a moment for Karen and Helena to walk down the hallway. Neither stayed around for the meeting for too long. "Yeah, I have someone who…"

Kara popped into room at this moment and interrupted Lana after a second and Lana closed her eyes.

Harry chuckled in amusement. "Yes, Kara, what is it?"

The blonde stood there, with a smile on her face, a pair of glasses on, and her hair was pulled in a ponytail. She was wearing a blue blouse, a black jacket, and a black skirt along with stockings and high heels. She looked like a miniature version of Karen, other than for the obvious reason why she looked like a miniature version of Karen.

"Martha wants to know if six on Sunday is okay?" Kara asked and Lana smiled.

"Sunday and Monday as well are completely cleared up, and besides on Monday we can finish acquiring those businesses," Lana said, she didn't want to pressure Harry.

At the same time, the lease round out at the end of the month and the last thing she wanted was those properties to get into Lionel Luthor's ill gotten hands and put more money into his already overinflated pockets. That was her worst nightmare come true.

"Six on Sunday is great…"

"Great, you can finally meet my cousin," Kara said and she smiled, throwing her arms around Harry and the two of them exchanged a kiss.

"I'll get that," Lana said, and she chuckled. She was going to have to find someone for that personal assistant job sooner rather than later. Not that she minded doing it.

Still she had a lot of things to do and she could use a break with her work responsibilities being eased up just a little bit.

She had a friend that might be able to do it for the meantime, before Harry found someone else, but someone of her capabilities would not be in the personal assistant role forever.

Of course, Harry was bound to attract attractive women who were far too overqualified. He was the only male in the RAO building right now. Lana knew his reasons or at least what he gave as his reasons. She accepted them and didn't pry.

Lana answered the phone, leaving Harry alone with Kara for a few seconds.

"Lois called, she wants to know if you're still on for Wednesday afternoon," Lana said and she looked at Harry, with a smirk on her face, a knowing one and Kara looked really amused at this.

"LL girls have a thing for you, don't they, Harry?" Kara whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

"If you say so," Harry said and he turned to Lana. "Tell her that I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Harry could tell that both Lois and Lana were plotting about something. He didn't know what. He could tell but he could plot with the best of them as well. The grin that filled his face was one of grand amusement. They would see who the master was sooner or later.

"What are you up to anyway?" Harry asked Lana and Lana smiled, trying not to look too guilty.

"I don't even know what you could ever mean, Harry," Lana said and she walked off to check on something.

Kara drifted off during the meantime and Harry thought that he had an eventful next few days ahead of him.

Then again, when was his life anything but eventful?

* * *

"So what do you think?"

Karen looked at Kara, who was modeling the costume, it was a sleek black that shined in the sunlight, with a shining "S" that doubled as a shield that surrounded around her body for radiation. The custom also allowed her to fly out in space. The black skirt flowed down past her thighs, showcasing some lovely flesh, and the black boots and the clasp on cape was a nice touch.

"I actually like it, black and silver is your color," Karen told the blonde and looked her over, which caused the younger blonde's cheeks to flush a little bit when Karen looked her over. "It suits you a lot actually."

"If you say so," Kara said, she bit down on her lip in frustration with Karen looking her over and she shook her head.

"Take a look in the mirror and look at yourself, and see how good you look in that costume," Karen said and Kara turned around and she looked herself over.

The younger blonde gave herself a critical eye as she looked herself over. Her criticism relaxed when she felt every single inch of the fabric wrap around her body. It was a nice fit for her, every inch of her skin exposed like it was.

"I really do look awesome, don't I?"

"Yes, you look ready to kick ass, like a true heroine," Karen said and she could not help but shamelessly stare at her younger counterpart's ass. Kara turned towards her and folded her arms, giving her older counterpart the evil eye. Karen's shoulders shrugged and Kara tapped her foot. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"I'm sure you couldn't," Kara said, leaning her head down and pacing back and forth, before she struck a pose. She just wanted to see how one of the standard superheroine poses looked in the camera.

Okay it looked like of cheesy, so a costume only did so much. Her hands on her hips like that, she looked like she was posing for a wedding cake or something. Or for some kind of statue. She just hoped that no pigeons flew by.

The blonde frowned deeply and she offered her own honest assessment. "I guess that I'd miss the red and the blue….."

"But you look so much better in this one, plus this costume is built to absorb the yellow solar radiation a little bit better," Karen said and she slowly ran her hands down Kara's stomach in response and she smiled.

"I guess you have a point," Kara said and she looked at the cape, it was for decoration in her other costume.

This time it served a more practical purpose, one she was distracted because of her older self rather shamelessly feeling her up.

"The criminals won't be able to keep their minds on killing you when they see your coming," Karen said, and she played with Kara's cape.

"Hey, don't tug on my cape," Kara said, with a grin on her face and she smirked. "I'm pretty sure that's a rule, isn't it, not to tug on a heroine's cape…look it up, I'm sure it exists."

"Honey, I'm sure that you're right," Karen said and never the less, she played a little bit with Kara's cape. It was too much to really resist.

"Costume is a little bit loose fitting though, I guess," Kara suggested, shrugging and Karen smiled knowingly.

'_Wait about a year, you won't be saying that,' _Karen said to Kara, but then again she might have a different metabolism. Karen was on Earth while Kara was in Stasis in Argo so there were a few changes.

So she didn't know how her growth rate would be. It was a different chart of progression.

"So everything works well, maybe I should give a little test flight around the city just to make sure though," Kara said with a smile and Karen waved to her, telling her to go for it.

"Open window's right there."

Kara knew that, she learned her lesson about not flying through a closed window. Granted, she could not get hurt. There were a lot of people who got pissed off in the process of her shattering their window. As much as that amused her, that was something that she was trying to avoid.

Harry showed up at that instant and watched as Kara showed off her new costume. The young man watched his young blonde wife model it, with a sultry grin crossing her face when she spun around in front of the mirror. She then flew out towards the open window, ready to get her costume a more clear test run.

"So, she's enjoying her new costume, isn't she?" Harry asked.

"Alex got dropped off at her lessons?" Karen asked him and Harry smiled and nodded.

"Yes, and she's making good progress, I think that if I learned that much about my powers at that young of an age, I wouldn't have to had re-learned everything later on, without the stupid stick," Harry said and Karen grinned when she turned her attention away from Kara towards Harry.

"You really do have it out for wands, don't you?"

Harry's smile with slight but it was obvious as well. "What gave that away?"

Karen shrugged in response, barely able to keep the obvious grin off of her face. "I don't know, just an obvious hunch, maybe it's just me though."

"No, it's not just you, trust me on that," Harry said, running his hands through Karen's hair and the blonde smiled at the attention that she was getting. It went without saying that she always enjoyed any attention that she would get from Harry, made her feel rather good about herself to be honest. "The things are an annoyance that if I had a chance, I would never have to deal with them ever again."

Karen's grin didn't move from her face and she nodded. Kara returned after a brief spin around the city in her costume.

"Sorry, just had to deal with a couple of people who were trying to break open a…."

Harry kissed Kara, catching her by surprise. His mouth pressed onto hers and she opened her mouth to allow his tongue access. It was a welcome surprise. The blonde's mind went completely numb with the pleasure. Harry worked his tongue deep between her lips, down her throat and she returned the kiss with an equal amount of fire. She ran her hands down the back of Harry's hair.

"I think it's time for some bonding," Karen said and she ran her hands down Kara's young body. "Won't be the first time that someone had sex with that suit on, but it will be your first time."

Kara could feel the heat rise between her legs as both Harry and Karen teased her. It was time for all of them to have some fun.

* * *

"So feeling that no time has passed, was that a surreal experience for you as it was for me?" Karen asked Kara and Kara responded with a slight shrug.

She really didn't have that much time to think about it since the time that she got back to Earth. Now that she was here, she did.

"You know, at least you made it to Earth, I didn't really have that consideration you know," Kara said, rolling back her shoulders and sighing.

"Well, sometimes I guess things like that don't pan out quite as we like," Karen said and she turned towards Kara. "Your cousin has been off world a lot."

"Lot of responsibilities, but the Fortress is going to keep my mother nice and safe until then," Kara said, and it went without saying that her cousin took a lot of responsibilities by choice. There were a lot of people who needed saving, that much was for sure and that was something to be admired. At least in Kara's opinion it was.

"Well, maybe we'll meet your cousin when we go to Smallville on Sunday," Harry said, amused, with Kara reclining lazily on Karen's lap. He frowned when he came to an unfortunate conclusion based off of his search for Patricia. "But there are a lot of dimensions out there…"

"So, there are a lot of different versions of me, but some of them might not be heroines," Karen said.

The infinite number of possibilities interested her. That would be another project for another day.

"We got to collect them all," Kara said with a grin on her face and Karen watched Harry's expression with great amusement. "I don't mean versions of me, I mean all of them…..as it all of the useful, attractive, and powerful women."

"Well, everyone needs a hobby," Harry said and Barbara could not help but chime in through the bond link.

'_And a very time consuming one at that, although with those time dilation spells that you have, I guess that it increases the potential to multi-task,' _Barbara thought and there was no way that Harry was going to disagree with that. _'Any way you can divide yourself in two and cover twice the ground?'_

'_Actually come to think of it, that's a work in progress, and once my powers get up to an optimal level….' _Harry thought to himself.

"Wait, there's an actual spell like that," Karen said and she brightened suddenly, the perverted possibilities for something like that were endless. The blonde's eyes flashed with mischief as she could not wait to try them out.

"It's not really easy to pull off, but yes, you can create solid holographic copies that are hard wired into the nervous system of a person," Harry said to her and the blonde responded with a crisp nod, looking him over. "And yes, I will feel everything that the duplicates feel….give that I'm an extension of their personality."

"Again, the possibilities are endless," Kara said and Karen grinned in response.

"I was just thinking the same thing, you know," Karen said and she sighed with a smile. "Great minds think alike."

"Or at least perverted ones do," Kara said with a wide grin and Karen smiled.

As much as this enticed her, she had to be focusing on something else that was just as important.

"Guess that works out pretty well as well," Karen said and she leaned back in the seat that she was in. "But we're getting off the subject….."

"I'm edging over half if that's what you want to know," Harry said and he waved his hand, levitating a practice dummy and then he put a flaming spear through its chest, causing it to burn to bits.

Kara's eyes followed the impressive progress of the spear. What Harry told her slowly struck her. "Wait, that's half…"

"But I can get tired if I'm not careful, although I can pull off some of the more high end spells with a bit less difficulty now," Harry answered and he sat next to him. "Of course, most of my magic these days is tied into my stamina."

"Oh, I get where you're going with this one and that's the proper application of magic," Kara said and she shook her head. "Besides, why would you build all of those high power suits and never get a chance to use them? Just seems silly, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Harry agreed and he peered at Karen who shifted rather intently when she looked at him and the sigh that escaped her mouth added. "But powers can be useful, if only you know how to apply the properly and know when not to rely on them."

"And if you can kick ass without them, that just gives you more options," Karen said, after being on the old Earth without her powers for the last few weeks, she stepped up her game in her training.

"Things are a bit quiet today, aren't they?" Kara asked out of the blue.

"Yes, and that makes me worried," Harry said and he had his eyes on the scanner for any of the other Cosmic blips, as did Karen.

At first, it looked like they were like a dog chasing their tail, with no purpose, no destination. They were just chasing after false hope. That changed the more often they happened.

The more that they looked at these things, the more that they realized that they could have something to them. At least that's what Harry's thought was.

"You would worry about something like that, wouldn't you?" Karen asked, shaking her head in amusement and grinned but she had her eyes peeled as well.

After three years, they didn't give up hope but also after three years, things seemed to be rather much a long shot.

That being said, this was one of those lazy Friday afternoons and everyone was getting ready for the weekend. This weekend would be one that Harry would look forward to for quite some time.

"So, you'll finally get to meet my cousin," Kara said, it was almost like she sensed what Harry was thinking, because she kind of did.

Harry smiled knowingly, deciding not to say anything to Kara. He was going to let her assume what she wanted to assume.

The three of them looked forward to their trip into Smallville this weekend and for Kara, she had been away for a couple of weeks. Her cousin must have been extremely busy not to know about what happened or had been determined not to confront Kara about it yet for some reason.

Or some combination of both really.

* * *

"Thanks for having us over Mrs. Kent," Harry said, with Kara, Karen, and Lana making their way to the front door.

An attractive redheaded woman in her early forties greeted them at the door with a smile on her face. She looked to keep herself extremely fit, although the farm life did do that for a person. Especially with all of the added responsibilities that she had since her husband died of a heart attack eighteen months ago, it was his third and in some morbid way, the third time was the charm.

"It's a pleasure….and it's Martha," she told Harry sternly and she smiled, looking more approachable. "Kara, welcome back…and…..well you did make a good choice, I was afraid when I heard what happened that…"

Martha tried not to be too critical of the girl. She was young once upon a time.

"That I married someone who wouldn't be the type that I could bring home to you?" Kara asked and Martha smiled. "This is Karen…..she's my older sister…..the one that's from another universe."

Martha looked at Karen suddenly and she placed exactly who she was instantly.

"I've seen you in the news," Martha said, shaking hands with what was obvious an older version of Kara. "I had to admit that the resemblance was uncanny but I never expected that…..well it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise as well," Karen said and Kara followed Martha into the kitchen, to talk to her about something and that left Lana, Karen, and Harry alone with each other.

"It's got all of the touches of home, even after all of these years," Lana said with a smile on her face. It was good to be here back at this farm house. "And this is one of the pillars that should remain standing in Smallville…..I mean Smallville wouldn't be Smallville without the Kent farm, wouldn't it?"

'_No, it wouldn't,' _Kara agreed with a smile on her face and Harry walked inside.

"Is there anything that I can do to help, Martha?" Harry asked her and she smiled at him.

She appreciated the help but they were her guests. She would feel bad if they spent their visit working themselves silly.

"No, but thank you for asking, it was almost ready when you were coming here," Martha said with a smile on her face.

It had been a rough last couple of years for her and really for a lot of people in Smallville. Not to mention the meteor infected that had been a recurring problem in the city seemed to escalate despite the best efforts of certain people. Some of them died because of their powers, some of them disappeared, likely to be used as future tools for the government, while only a few were able to live great lives, beyond the stigma of their fellow meteor mutants.

"Things haven't been the best here in Smallville for a lot of people….."

"So Lana told you, didn't she?" Martha asked and Harry smiled, with the woman in question joining them in the kitchen and given a very obvious guilty as charged look on her face. "But yes, things aren't really the same here in Smallville after everything that has been happening…..and I hate to put a down note on your visit by bringing that up."

"We're going to expand into Smallville," Harry informed Martha and she smiled.

"Let me know if I can do anything to help," Martha said, eager to hopefully help make a difference in a town that she called home. After all, she knew most of the people here and was quite fond of a few of them. Real salt of the Earth people but they were going to be bulled over by the Luthor tornado that was threatening to run them down if they were not careful.

Lana snapped her fingers. She should have been able to see that a useful person was right here that could help.

"Actually, I believe that Harry might have a job for you, if you want it," Lana told Martha and Martha raised her eyebrow.

She had stayed on the farm, mostly out of respect for her late husband and it did seem to be one of the few stable landmarks that were around in Smallville. Plus as she said, it was really home.

"Just assisting me with getting things together in the expansion towards Smallville and also if you have anyone in mind that might be useful in helping us move into the community and keeping jobs in the community," Harry said and he smiled when he ate the food. It was delicious, the most delicious that he had ever tasted in his life come to think about it. "Oh, this is really good."

"Thank you," Martha said and she paused, taking a large bite which caused her to think about what she wanted to do. "To do something like that…I might have to leave the farm behind."

That was something that she regretted more than anything. It wasn't as strong of a regret as it would have been before. That being said, anyone who was able to see the despondent look on her face understood how much she regretted it.

"You're just barely breaking even on the farm, aren't you?" Karen asked and Martha was caught with a frown on her face.

"Yes," Martha said and she hated to admit it. It was just frustrating for her.

She expected a bit more in her life than just breaking even. Perhaps that was just her, however. Something that seemed like an ideal life when she was twenty something seemed like an less ideal life when she was forty something.

"You don't have to leave it all behind, in fact, one couldn't discount all that has been brought to Smallville thanks to the Farm," Harry added and Martha would have to agree about that fact. "But, Lana's moving up with a promotion."

"Congratulations on that, dear," Martha said and Lana could not help but smile.

"And if you want to take her old spot as my personal assistant…..she tells me that you're more than qualified," Harry said and Lana turned towards her.

"You are capable of a lot more than being on this farm, I always thought that you were," Lana said and she leaned towards Martha. "Just think, you could bring a lot of business back to Smallville….all you need to do is…"

"You know, I think that I might just accept that job," Martha said and she was confident that she could do some good. Lana had been working hard trying to make sure that Smallville was not going to be a town that was mastered by Lionel Luthor.

"Just think about it, and get back to me, whether or not you choose to, but I'd be happy to have you on board," Harry said, and he looked around. "Will Kara's cousin be joining us any time soon?"

Martha sighed; she wondered when this point would be brought up.

"Got caught up with something, but I'm sure there's always a possibility," Martha said and they made some light conversation.

* * *

Kara informed Harry about a mysterious set of caves that was about Smallville. After learning that news, the young man's curiosity was such that he couldn't wait to check them out. Especially considering that they resembled the origin point for the castle and the Lair, so that gave him even more reason to enter the caves and take a slight peak.

It was a bit of a trek but Harry didn't mind that. It would make the journey even more worth it when he arrived at the destination.

That being said, Harry could feel the power that was bathing in from the caves and approached the area.

Karen and Kara joined him a few seconds later, and both of the blondes smiled.

"Have you ever been in here?" Karen asked Kara and Kara shook her head in the negative.

"No, I really haven't been in here," Kara admitted, but she decided to correct that matter right here. "I think that the legend has it that this cave was made by a powerful goddess who came from the sky and could shoot fire from her eyes. It was also believed had super natural powers and some day she would return."

Karen looked towards her younger counterpart and Kara just responded with a light shrug and shook her head. "That's how the story goes anyway…..don't know how true it might be, it's just that's how the story goes."

"I see," Harry muttered but never the less, he was looking around the cave. It did look rather simplistic all things considered but looks can be deceiving.

"It could have been a Kryptonian outpost from some long time ago…"

"Well it allows a portal to created to the Fortress, which I can't access because I haven't been keyed in properly," Kara said, frowning.

She wished to slam her hands down on the set of rock. The blonde pulled back her angry impulses and just settled herself down on a set of rock.

"This place though, it's amazing," Harry said and he scanned everything. So far it appeared to be nothing but a few old runes around them.

"Careful," Karen said and she grabbed Harry's hand and he looked over his shoulder towards her with a slight grin.

"What?" Harry asked her.

Kara was curious as well. Karen reminded them all of something.

"You know that you and Ancient Runes don't get along all that well," Karen remind him and Kara's eyebrow perked up a little bit.

She had to admit that she was curious. Especially when you factored in the death glare that Harry gave Karen. Something that she didn't back down from at all.

"What's the story with this?" Kara asked Karen and Karen leaned in to tell her about it but Harry decided to explore before she had a chance to.

The runes, if they ever had any power in them, weren't there anymore. He ran his hands over the wall, thinking that there might be a portal, just like the one in his set of caves but he was not able to find anything.

Perhaps all that this set of the caves did was allow an easy access point to this Fortress of Solitude, wherever that might be. Harry continued to run his hands over the caves. He tried to mentally lock on to some kind of energy. There was absolutely nothing and that was bad news for him.

He was about ready to give this entire thing up for a lost cause but he frowned and looked over his shoulder.

He shifted a bit of the rock in the wall and he saw a crystal jutting out of it. It was a small fragment and it had the letter "Z" carved into it, in a crude manner.

Harry could sense that the crystal had some kind of familiarity to it and he reached his hand around the crystal, shifting it against the wall.

"What's in the name of Rao…."

"There's something back there," Harry whispered to Karen and Kara and both of them approached the wall, their mouths hanging open in surprise at what they saw.

"You're kidding me, right?" Karen asked and Harry shook his head in negative. "Wow!"

"Yes, wow, but I wonder what could be back there," Harry replied and Karen frowned in response.

"There's really only one way to find out, isn't there?" Karen asked and she placed her hands on the wall.

For a second she felt silly because nothing happened. Then something did, the rocks cracked apart and a blinding illuminating glow caught them off guard.

It allowed them a spiral staircase and Kara watched, she nearly fell over in response. The crystals blinked to life, illuminating their pathway down there. Harry dipped in front of her to lead the way down the steps.

"Okay, do Kryptonian crystals do what they're doing?" Harry asked and Karen was confused but Harry was happy to clarify. "Do they call to me like they're calling to me right now?"

Karen frowned. She couldn't hear them calling. If Harry said that they were calling, she believed everything that he said.

"I don't know," Karen admitted, that was some uncharted and unique territory for her.

The further they took their treck down, the more Kryptonian these caves looked. It was an amazing sight.

"Knowledge crystals," Kara whispered, her eyes following the progress when they scattered over the floor.

"But are they the good knowledge or the bad knowledge?" Karen asked and Kara shook her head, shrugging her shoulders.

Harry could see that the stairs ended at a certain point and there was a bit of a drop off. They could fly back up easily, so they dropped down.

"Nice soft landing, that's always a good sign," Kara answered and Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Yeah, but…"

The trio paused and they could see more of the crystals lined up in the wall in slots, almost like they waited for Harry to approach them. At the edge of the row of crystals, they spotted something interesting, or rather someone.

Harry heard a strangled whisper in a language that he somehow recognized on a subconscious level and took a step forward, to investigate the source of it.

Needless to say, it proved to be enlightening in more ways than one.

**To Be Continued on October 7****th**** 2014. **

* * *

**Oh, poor Lana she keeps missing her opportunity.**

**I continue to tap dance around what I think should be obvious at this point. But for those who don't think it's obvious, I'm enjoying making them sweat. And potentially pissing people off who have got what was going on and I keep dragging it out. **

**It should be interesting to see if people can figure out the caves or not. Could be wrong, could be right, we'll find out sooner rather than later. **


	24. The Bridge

**Chapter Twenty-Four: The Bridge.**

* * *

It was a bright day in Metropolis, a few weeks after the adventures in Gotham City took place. The ongoing Maroni investigation had been stone walled and Zucco's death had been ruled to be a gang dispute internally. The reason why was that the GCPD was behind the man's death.

Business was booming rather well at the RAO Corporation and Harry couldn't be more happier. Especially with the new assets that he acquired recently.

"So, Martha agreed to do the job…..I figured that she might be interested in doing it," Lana said when she walked up the steps to the RAO building with Harry. "And I have to say that the trip to Smallville might have been one of the most intriguing on several levels."

The discovery Harry made would be testament to that fact. He couldn't even begin to feel how amazed that he felt so he wasn't going to really describe it. The two of them made their way to one of the larger offices.

Lana decided to jump in with a question that she had burning on the tip of her tongue. "So what are you going to do….."

"Well it's been down there for a long time, so I'm going to keep it safe and secure until I can move it, but I've already been researching ways about how to bring Kara's mother back to life, so this should work out just as nicely as a means to help me with that when I have access to the Fortress," Harry told Lana and she nodded in response. "And all of the deals that we made….."

"It was a good trip," Lana said, smiling. It was one of those take out two birds with one stone type of things. They helped Smallville and several small business owners, in exchange for expanding the RAO corporation, and a lot of people would not be losing their jobs or their land in response.

"I'm glad to see that you approved of the trip."

Harry mentally racked his brain for all of the things that he needed to do and there were a few more things that were left to take care of but that could wait for the moment. They also had to sift through the knowledge crystals. There was only one problem. The person who could help them the most needed to be brought out of her slumber.

"So, this is a nice office, but why are we here?" Lana asked with a grin on her face and Harry smiled at her.

"I'm really glad that you think this is a great new office, because this is your new office," Harry told her and Lana blinked, her eyes widened and her mouth drooling just a little bit.

"Seriously?" Lana asked him and Harry smiled at the redhead in response.

"Seriously, it's half of your Christmas present early, you said that you wanted a big office…"

Lana walked around, this was a big office, with a nice view of all of Metropolis. She had a nice office before. This one looked her old office that looked like crap.

And the fact that she and Harry were all alone in it didn't escape her notice either.

"So?" Lana asked him with a smile on his face and she took a step forward, closing the gap between them. "It's been a long time coming that the two of us have gotten some time together."

"Yeah, you know a lot of things have been happening….."

"Tell me about it," Lana said and she placed her hands on his waist and she looked into his dazzling green eyes. They were enough to make a woman weak in the knees and more importantly to make her wet in the panties. "But I think that we should celebrate a deal well done in Smallville, I mean, if it wasn't for you…"

Harry figured that he had to give her credit where credit was due. "You were the one who set it up….."

"But it was your business savvy that made it happen," Lana said and to the outside world, it might seem like a low income thing.

When you looked at the big picture and more importantly when you looked at things from a long term angle, things would improve.

Lana decided to take the plunge and she closed the gap between her and Harry. Her lips pressed against his with a searing kiss. Harry smiled when he pulled the redhead close into his chest, pressing her body against his.

Lana could feel herself heating up, when Harry returned the kiss. This was the type of kiss that ruined a woman's panties. The redhead returned fire, and Harry's hands rested on her hips and she almost begged him to go lower. Harry backed her onto her desk and leaned her back onto it. Harry kissed her fiercely.

He let go, leaving her panting and wanting more. Harry smiled when he looked down at the redhead, her hair framing her face and sticking to it.

"I think that it's time for my performance review," Lana said in a sultry voice and she placed her hand on his abs. Running her hand down she placed it on his inside thigh. The redhead allowed it to rest there and she continued in a sensual purr. "I'm ready to do exactly what you want me to do, Doctor Potter."

Harry smiled, he had been working her up for quite some time. Now it would all come to a head, in more ways than one.

"Well Miss Lang, let's test your oral skills first."

* * *

Lana pressed herself against Harry, her legs wrapped around him after that amazing experience and she was so glad to have shared it with him. If she wore socks it would have knocked those socks off but she didn't. She found herself on the ground, panting.

"So, are you satisfied?" Harry asked with a smile on his face and Lana pulled herself away, running her hand down his chest.

"Very…and Kara and Donna seem to be on a mission to recruit as many women as possible for your little h….collective," Lana said, correcting herself before she said it the wrong thing. "Well…I think that's a noble endeavor."

"Everyone needs a hobby, don't they?" Harry asked and Lana smiled, running her hands down his chest, and cupping his face. She leaned in for a kiss which Harry returned.

"I've got a couple of old friends who would be extremely interested, if I prodded them the right way," Lana said and she stopped and paused at the implied innuendo.

"Well, prod away, Lana, if you may," Harry said with a smile directed towards her and she leaned in towards him for one more kiss.

"So, that was a nice weekend, but you know that I'm ready for more and I'm not someone who likes to be left hanging," Lana said, folding her arms over her chest and looking at Harry with wanton lust flashing through her eyes.

"You know, there's too much of a good thing….."

"And you're a very good thing, but I've been wound up for this for months, and Karen and Helena weren't helping," she said and she pulled herself over Harry and gave him another kiss and it was off to the races once more.

Lana was determined to make up for the time she felt like she lost.

* * *

"So, you're going to go off for the Lois Lane experience at any moment, now?' Kara asked and Harry smiled.

It was true, he had an interview with Lois and he felt like forging a connection with her was important. Not just for the obvious reasons they were important either.

"You seem to….."

"Oh, no, I approve of it, in fact she could be useful," Kara said and she smiled. "And I'm sure that you got some use out of Lana, didn't you?"

Harry didn't say anything, rather he filed away from some notes at the caves. He wanted to get all of his notes in order before he found a way to get the occupant out of the ship.

"That was a long time coming for her, she was begging for it, I know that she was, I know what she wanted," Karen said, turning up to join them.

"And I'm sure that you didn't do a thing to encourage that," Harry said, absent mindedly working through the papers and he flipped through them. Karen stood behind him and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her breasts against his back.

"I don't know what you could be talking about," Karen said with a smile and she looked over the reports. "That cave is a gold mine…"

"Which is why I had it sealed off on that level…Lana told me that the Luthor people wanted to buy that land so they could have access to the caves, someone got it in their heads that there is oil under the cave," Harry said and amusement danced in his eyes. If only they knew something more valuable than oil lurked down there.

"Always about the bottom line, isn't it?" Kara asked, and more people filed into the office.

Helena joined them, with Barbara. Donna returned to the island to see her sister and mother. Things were fine after what happened, and Harry wondered what kind of game the goddesses played now. As for right now, he knew nothing.

"It is always about the bottom line, if you're running a business," Helena said, stopping next to Kara and smiling. "Like it or not, money is the ultimate…..well its money, what are you going to do about it?"

"Source of all of the problems in the world," Kara answered, folding her arms and Barbara nodded.

"And the solutions as well," Barbara said. She worked on a new coding program, really a project really. She wanted to locate where the money went with some of the mobs. She suspected that it would lead her in some interesting directions.

Intergang activity picked up and she heard rumors that the Penguin and Black Mask made plays for territory in Metropolis, after expanding Gotham City. Those two moving any further than they did was a cause for concern, a lot of concern.

Then there were rumors about a partnership between Salvatore Maroni and Morgan Edge and the Penguin linked up with Rupert Thorne. Black Mask made his own deals, some old mob boss named Grissom and his chief lieutenant worked with him. The guy went by a number of aliases, one of them being Jack Napier but if that was his real name, then Barbara would eat her hat.

Then there were the Falcones and Barbara pulled a face at that thought.

"So you've got a pretty much who's who list of all of the mobsters in this entangled gang war?" Harry asked and Barbara jumped up but nodded in excitement.

"It's really a work in progress you know," Barbara said, grinning in response and Harry frowned. She decided to explain that. "It's a multi-tier system, all of them have their territory, but when the Penguin and Black Mask got involved, the rules of the game changed and the old system disappeared."

"There was honor amongst thieves," Harry said and Barbara nodded.

"This Intergang thing is weird, they've attacked two LuthorCorp facilities in the past," Barbara said. "And they managed to hook Toyman up…..as you know."

"Yes, I know all too well," Harry said and he smiled, rather interested at the work that Barbara put together.

Potentially unwillingly, Harry found himself stepping into this potential gang war, and it was on many sides. He didn't even know where to begin with that but he figured that it could go from many different angles. Any valuable assets these gangs had could be useful for him.

"You did leave Lana smiling," Karen said and she brought this back up.

"Given that all of the times that you enabled her cock-blocking, I really think that it's your fault that she was so hung on," Harry said and Karen stepped towards him, placing her hand on his.

"Oh…"

"Yes you did," Harry replied and squeezed her hand and she sighed.

"I guess that I did," Karen said with a guilty as charged expression on her face and Kara laughed in the corner. "You would have done the same thing if you had been in my position and you know it."

Kara threw her hands back and Harry smiled, stepping out for a second to allow the girls to discuss amongst themselves about what would not happen.

'_So, there's never a dull day with you,' _Donna thought and both of them exchanged a smile.

'_You know, I wouldn't really want to deal with a dull life,' _Harry thought to her and he didn't even think about what a dull life would be like.

He had a taste of it when he was younger and didn't like it. Being just Harry was a foolish dream. If he had ever said that he was "just Harry", Harry would want to freaking smack himself in the face and ask what the fuck was wrong with himself.

He stepped outside and looked over Metropolis. From his vantage point, he stood over the entire city and was the king of the world.

'_So how is the trip to the island?' _Harry asked he and Donna smiled.

'_Eventful, it had been a long time since Diana knocked my ass around,' _the young Amazon replied with a smile crossing her face and she nearly laughed about it. It was a lot easier to be amused by something traumatizing in hindsight, then when it was happening right now.

'_Well that's the only way that you'll learn,' _Harry thought and Donna crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

'_You sound just like my mother,' _Donna said and she pulled a face at that.

'_Well your mother is a wise woman,' _Harry answered and he looked outside. _'When do you think that you're coming back?'_

'_Diana and I will be coming back by Friday,' _Donna thought and Harry's interest piqued in response. _'Oh, and she's interested in about taking you up on your offer to have lunch with her.'_

'_I'd be great to have her, really I would,' _Harry said and suggestive statement was suggestive when he spoke but never the less Donna smiled.

'_Oh believe me, she would love to have you as well,' _Donna said and she knew that Harry and Diana met, although she was not privy because of the actual event.

'_Tell me more?' _Harry asked her and Donna flushed, shrugging her shoulders and crossed her arms together.

* * *

Lois Lane knew better than anyone else that plans could change at the last second. She paced back and forth.

An interview with Harry Potter, that was an elusive thing and she awaited to be buzzed upstairs. The reporter waited, she never was a patient person.

Pacing back and forth, Lois's impatience increased and her finger tapped against the side of door. She didn't mean to seem this wanton or needy.

"Lois, you may come up now."

Lois nearly fell over in surprise but managed to hold herself up and about. Not only was she given the go ahead to go up but Harry Potter himself gave the go ahead. The young man should have had a flunky do this do it. Most rich people would. That just proved to Lois that this young man was full of surprises. She looked forward to what else he might have in store for her.

The violet eyed reporter steadied her stance and climbed up the stairs to meet him. She thought that she could have used an elevator but she felt that walking up the stairs gave herself more time to compose what she wanted to say.

'_Don't stress Lane, this is just another interview…..granted its another great interview with someone that you want a piece of…..just pretend that he's in his underwear and…that won't help at all,' _Lois thought, her mind going wild at the thought of that particular young man in his underwear.

And perhaps even less. Lois fanned herself for a moment and she prepared for her date with destiny.

Hitching in her breath she raised her hand and knocked on the door in response. The dark haired woman waited for it to be answered.

"Lois, welcome," Harry said with a smile and Lois should not have been surprised to see Kara Kent standing there with Harry. She wore a tight red tank top and jean shorts with her hair tied back and her eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. "Thank you for coming here….."

"No, I really should thank you for agreeing to an interview, you know how many people would give their right arm….."

"More than a few," Harry answered and Lois stepped towards him and Harry smiled in response. "But you'd get yourself for considerably less."

"Thankfully," Lois said and she made sure her note pad was there. "So, you've been going to war with the king of Metropolis, Lionel Luthor."

"Well, it's nothing personal…"

"It seems to me like you do have it out for me, or perhaps you undercut him with the deal that he wanted to acquire the property of Smallville," Lois replied and Harry smiled.

"Well, it might seem personal but….."

"Hey, if you want to make a Luthor's life a little bit more difficult, far be it for me to complain about it," Lois said waving it off. Anything to take that asshole down a peg or two was good in Lois's book. "It's just that you've come in here and you're not screwing around."

"Well there's really no time to do that, I've always been a person….well most of my life, that I either go in there and take what I want, or someone else takes it," Harry whispered to her and Lois smiled.

"Decisive, there are a lot of business leaders who just tend to hem and haw about what they need to do and eventually they get swallowed by the Luthor monster," Lois remarked and Harry smirked despite himself.

"Well the Luthor monster is all consuming, you know," Harry told her. "But perhaps this will be the shot in the arm that the entire city of Metropolis needs and Smallville is an underdeveloped area."

Lois nodded, making a note of what she said. She had a question that she thought might be obvious. Not that an obvious question stopped her from asking something before.

"Do you think that it's true that Luthor purposely pulled his operations out of Smallville to wreck the small businesses there and then swoop in to buy them back at a larger price?" Lois asked and Harry smiled at her.

"I haven't talked to the man in my life, so I don't really have the slightest idea what could be processing in that mind of his but I'll tell you this, it could be something interesting what he has in his mind," Harry replied and Lois didn't say anything, other than the fact that she smiled and stared at him. "It's a dirty game politics are…..you got to be prepared to play it, play big or go home, that's basically what it all boils down to."

"I see," Lois said and she could also see what Harry had in mind was big. It was bigger than big. Huge even, very huge she reminded herself. She could not even begin to appreciate the different layers of plans that he hand in place. "So tell me a bit about how you came here….."

Harry smiled.

"Long story?"

"Well, let's just say that I was overseas for a while as you might have been able to tell by my accent, I went to a boarding school that has gone out of business since I left it," Harry commented and Lois nodded, eagerly scratching down some notes on the pad of paper that she had in front of her. "It had a great reputation but I really didn't see much of it. After a few years, I finished my schooling, with the highest honors…and I went to Metropolis and got several degrees, set up my business, and the rest is history."

"And you've done this all over the period of five years, it's kind of like magic," Lois said.

"Do you honestly believe in magic?" Harry asked with a knowing smirk that Lois didn't quite catch.

"Doctor Potter, I believe that a woman can fly, therefore magic isn't exactly out of the realm of possibility, you know Kent Nelson…..?"

"Yes, he's done some lectures at Metropolis University about science and the supernatural aspects to it," Harry replied, man seemed to be a bit out to lunch to be honest, but then again Harry wasn't one to complain.

"Well, rumor has it that around the time of the golden age of super heroes back thirty years ago, he was a magic based super hero known as Doctor Fate," Lois commented and Harry smiled. "Then again super heroes kind of went out of style for a while but they're coming back."

Harry wondered when they were coming around to this point.

"The Blur?"

"Yes, along with that nutjob who prowls around in the night in Gotham City," Lois said ticking off her fingers. "And Power Girl and Huntress and…Green Lantern…?"

"Hmm, Green Lantern?" Harry asked with a smile on his face that Lois didn't quite catch.

"Yes, I don't know if you read my exclusive interview with her last year, but…you think Earth has some problems, you should see some of the messed up places in the universe," Lois answered and Harry gave the woman a slight smile.

"I wouldn't really doubt it," Harry said and the two of them made some small talk, with Lois just asking some more questions to clarify certain things about him.

It was then that she looked at her watch, caught off guard by how much time had passed. An apologetic look appeared in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know….I know that you must have things to do and I got to get back, there's a deadline after all," Lois said and Harry smiled.

"I know, we all have our deadlines, both imposed and self-imposed," Harry said and he had some time to kill. "So, if you're not busy next weekend would you like to go out for lunch and perhaps conduct a follow up?"

"That sounds more like a date that an interview follow up, Doctor Potter," Lois said with a smile on her face.

"It's whatever you make of it, Miss Lane," Harry said and Kara smirked, sitting in the corner.

'_Not one word,' _Harry thought to her and Kara looked like a deer that had been trapped in the headlights and she crossed her arms.

'_What, what did I do?' _she asked and Harry smirked at her in response.

'_You know what you did,' _Harry thought, squeezing her thigh which caused her to relax.

With that said, he made arrangements to meet with Lois in the future and they would get to know each other in a more intimate setting.

Lois figured that he left some things out. It was understandable that someone like him, she would barely be able to scratch the surface on the first interview. She had enough with her that would lead to a juicy story, enough to make her lips moisten and to become really excited. And she looked forward for the follow up that they would have later.

* * *

Diana tapped her foot and waited when she stood outside of the restaurant that Harry made them reservations for. It was one of the most exclusive in all of Metropolis, or so she had been told. She believed it with all of the important people lingering around.

The Amazon Princess dressed to kill, with a sleek black dress that modestly covered her but at the same time hugged her curves. It was rare that she got a chance to go out without being a diplomat from Themscrycira.

"You look beautiful Diana."

Diana turned and saw Harry standing there in a very stylish three piece suit and she looked him over.

"So did you and Donna get back okay?" Harry asked and Diana shook herself out of la-la land and responded to him.

"Yes, we're fine….we got back fine," Diana answered and she shook her head to clear the cobwebs once again and Harry offered her hand. "Donna was going to meet with Barbara and Kara, some kind of girls night…..although I questioned the wisdom of allowing the three of them to run unchecked after what happened last time. Although the results ended up being not that bad."

"No, I would have to agree that they were fairly favorable," Harry said and he lead the woman to the back of the establishment to a private booth that they had but they nearly ran into a familiar face.

"Harry….it's been a long time."

An attractive woman in her mid-thirties, although she looked a bit younger because of the shape she kept herself in, approached them. She wore a pair of dress pants that hugged tightly against her hips and a shirt that matched. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of her nose and she smiled widely when she saw him standing before her.

"Helena, fancy running into you here of all places," Harry said and the woman smiled. "Diana, this is Doctor Helena Sandsmark…..and Helena, this is Diana Prince."

"A pleasure to meet you Doctor Sandsmark, I've learned about your work, it's fairly fascinating," Diana said and Helena smiled knowingly.

"Yes, I'm sure that an amazing young woman such as yourself would be able to appreciate the type of work that I've done," Helena said and she saw Diana standing there with Harry. "I stopped by to talk with a colleague, but he had to leave…Professor William McElroy, you've heard of him…"

"Yes, wasn't he sick a while ago?"

Doctor Sandsmark hesitated for a second. This was a touchy subject with a lot of McElroy's colleagues.

"He had to go away a while for his help, but he came back and he returned to his classes, he's an expert of Egyptology, and he's interested in helping fund one of my digs next summer," Helena informed them.

"Well, what are you hoping to find?"

"Mostly a lot of junk that museums would be willing to pay for to lure unsuspecting customers in, but sometimes you find some real treasures," Doctor Sandsmark said and she checked her watch. "I've got a few things to take care of at the office, before I go home so I'll leave you to your date….it's a real pleasure talking to you, Diana, Harry."

The woman walked off and Harry smiled and lead Diana towards the table that he set up.

"It's nice to have a change of scenery every now and again," Diana said and Harry smiled. "I know that Paradise can be great, but if you grow too accustomed to it, it becomes less so."

"I see your point," Harry fired back at the Amazon Princess and she leaned back into her chair, accepting the drinks. "So, are you here for the long term?"

"I'm considering it, Mother wants to establish a more constant presence in the world and she's thinking about establishing your gateway idea if you want to go for it," Diana said and Harry smiled.

"The goddesses are okay with it?"

"They haven't said anything against it but they seem to be taking a close look at you regardless," Diana said and a suggestive tone seemed to be from this statement and Harry would have been really been dense to miss it.

"Well that could be interesting," Harry said and he thought that would prove to be a useful connection.

The games of higher powers could be tricky though. There might be a reason why they took an interest in Harry.

"I thought that you might have agreed with that," Diana said and she sighed. "Of course that means that I'm going to have to see a lot more of the United Nations than I want to."

Harry felt her pain, he really did.

"I don't envy anyone because of that," Harry said and he honestly said that. "So, how are you enjoying the food? It's not exactly like back home I know."

"No, it's pretty good, you have good taste and the food it tastes good as well," Diana said with a smile and she helped herself to another bite. The Amazon's grin got even wider over her face when she shifted herself on her chair. "Very good in fact"

Diana smiled, she had her eye on Harry for a while, but much to her frustration, Donna beat her to the punch. It was a moment of opportunity where she took in. Diana did teach her sister to seize the opportunity when she could.

She took that opportunity in a way that Diana didn't even think about.

"Sorry, just thinking about how good the food is," Diana said and she looked rather apologetic to him and Harry smiled knowingly.

"Of course," Harry said and it was a nice meal that the two them had together. The conversation was casual and the meal was pretty good.

* * *

Professor William Omaha McElroy returned from his leave of absence and he heard the whispers of the students regarding the reasons that he was gone. The aged professor tried not to let those rumors get to him. Even the ones that were true.

He had taken extremely ill, the pressures of a lot of work, and the pressures of a recent stress, the death of his wife and some financial woes that he went into after that. There were parts of him that had not been completely right ever since twenty years ago when he took his honors class on a field trip and they passed through Smallville went the meteor shower came down.

He was the only survivor of the bus and he had spent seven years after that, in a mental institution. It was after being left on a bus for three days, with nothing to listen to but audio tapes describing the eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt.

"Mr. Bernard, help me move that over there, and be careful not to drop it," McElroy said and the student teacher smiled. He was a rather nondescript looking guy with brown hair, and he looked even more so next to the rotund professor.

He waddled over, he had lost a lot of weight in his time off but he still was a couple of shades over three hundred pounds.

"I'm sure that everyone is happy to see you back, sir, where did you….."

"Rest and relaxation, my dear Cleo died, and live has changed," he replied and he closed his eyes. He had to check in with a therapist three times a week to make sure he didn't have a relapse.

He was on medication as well. He stopped taking that a couple of weeks ago. He felt fine, so there was no need for it.

"Careful now, careful," McElroy said and he could hear the sound of the jackhammer outside, they did a lot of construction work outside the city.

"Sir, there's something about this…the wiring is faulty," Mr. Bernard said and he stood on the ladder, with a couple of students who walked by and talked with each other.

"It shouldn't be," McElroy muttered and he walked on in, seeing the wires dangling down and he reached up towards them.

The sparks began to fly and Mr. Bernard lost his balance, falling off of the ladder, the case in his hand flying.

The object knocked McElroy on the top of his head and caused the rotund man to fall down hard. The case cracked open to reveal a glowing staff.

A group of students in the hallway rushed over to check on their dazed teacher.

"Professor McElroy, Professor McElroy…." one of them stated and they roughly nudged him.

"Professor McElroy, who is Professor McElroy?" the professor asked and he saw the object slide out of the box, it was a relic from the 18th dynasty and it all clicked in his mind. "BACK, BACK, BACK YOU PEASANTS! Give your king some space…"

Professor McElroy got to his feet.

"Sir, we should get you some….."

"It's your highness, get it right!" the man bellowed in an overblown demeanor, and he pushed the students away. He looked completely and utterly mad. "Do not disrespect me again, of you won't live long enough to regret it…."

"Just wait….are you….."

"I am King Tutankhamen, Master of Thebes, King of the Nile, and that's just on Mama's side of the family," he said in an overblown manner and a couple of teachers walked over towards him.

"Professor McElroy, you should go to the medical wing, you've not really felt that well….."

"You might not be the ones that are well, with this Professor McElroy nonsense, I am King Tutankhamen, and you will all bow before me!" he said and he waved his hands and caused them bow before his feet. The meteors given him special gifts over the rabble. "That's right my slaves, you know that you're at my mercy, and we will turn this deplorable community into a kingdom more fitting for someone of my stature."

They kept bowing before him, all of them locked into a trance. Tut looked pleased at the devotion shown by his loyal subjects.

"Now, come there are some in this city who have committed a theft against my dynasty and all of Metropolis will learn to bow before the Pharaoh," he whispered dramatically and the students and teachers, all of them seeing the light and under his thrall.

He picked up the staff on the ground, inspiration blew through his mind.

All would bow before the might of Tut!

**To Be Continued on October 10****th**** 2014. **

* * *

**Lana finally gets her time with Harry after being cock blocked forever. **

**Lois and Harry interacting on any level has been gold for some time, ever since at least Herald of Death. Which seems like a lifetime ago. **

**And we've got King Tut, 1960s Batman fame, here. With a redone origin, essentially a meteor mutant. And completely unbalanced. **

**An unbalanced man with a staff of mystical properties is always a recipe for disaster.**


	25. Curse of Tut Part One

**Chapter Twenty Five: The Curse of Tut Part One.**

* * *

It was shaping up to be one of those slow days where everyone didn't seem to do anything productive. Everyone was relaxed, and no one really had a care in the world.

Lois Lane thought that this was going to be one of these slow news that. That was just the vibe that she felt. The raven-haired reporter decided to walk across the street, to get herself something to eat, but then she stopped cold.

She opened her mouth to snap at the people that were in her way, but she never found the acidic words on her tongue. Her mouth remained open and she hovered around, it opened and it shut, constantly. She whistled and looked around. Lois saw why people were blocked and she understood now better than anyone else as to why.

Only one word fit this situation and that word was "damn."

There was a giant Sphinx that rested out in the middle of the road, just casually there. Lois wanted to get a view, but the police barricades put up caused her to stall and not move forward.

"This is Cat Grant, and I'm here on the scene at Downtown Metropolis for Metropolis Daily News, where a large Sphinx appeared in the middle of the street, and there seems to be no…..there seems to be no explanation about why it got here, or who commissioned it."

Lois held up her cell phone and got a text message.

_Hey Lois, did you know that there's a giant Sphinx in the middle of Metropolis? Because it's all over the Internet._

Lois paused and she texted her contact back.

_Yeah, Chloe, I know._

Lois's eyes averted up and she thought that she needed to get a closer look, along with pictures. She felt a surprising amount of warmth come off of it and the eyes glowed. Even though her usual photographer was not with her, that did not deter the woman at all.

She stepped forward and she could hear a low, female voice come from the speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by for a royal proclamation from King Tut."

That caused the whispers to intensify as everyone in the crowd wondered what was up. Some of them thought that they were dealing with someone who had a few screws loose.

"King Tut," Lois whispered, and she vaguely remembered him from history class, there might have been a drool spot on her history book that she had in college.

The crowd buzzed and Lois tried to get a picture, but getting a picture through the masses proved to be an extremely laborious process. The determined reporter had to try, her journalistic spirit demanded nothing less.

The dark haired reporter shifted again and she could hear the MCU approach. Dan Turpin lead the way as per usual.

"Alright, alright, everyone back up, give some space, we only have so much room to breathe here," Turpin grunted in his usual gruff manner. He reached forward and knocked on the Sphinx and frowned, there was no response.

Suddenly, a trumpet could be heard and eight royal guards marched across the street.

"This better not be some rich guy pulling a publicity stunt for a new hotel or something," Turpin grumbled, but this was sure to be something, but was it a good thing? He doubted that very much.

A group of men dressed in royal garb stampeded in the next second. One could assume that they were some kind of royal guards or at least they thought that they were.

"Stand back, and show your respect for your king," one of the guards said and Turpin took a step forward, but the Sphinx began to rumble to life.

"Ladies, gentlemen, my subjects, due me a favor, and lend me an ear, for the longest time, you have followed false idols, and leaders, but that changes right here," the man who declared himself to be the ruler of this land said. "But, I, King Tutankhamen, the greatest pharaoh of all of the land, will bring you to a brand new world. This urban wasteland is not to my liking."

"Yeah, well you're not to my liking!" Turpin yelled and one of the guards smashed the staff down across the back of his head.

Turpin fell to his knees hard from the shot. There was a gasp from the crowd and some of them backed off. This guy meant business whoever he was.

"You were warned to fall into line, peasant," one of the guards whispered, a far off look flickering in his eyes.

"My men and a few women, yes I do live in strange times now, have ensured that the unwashed masses understand their place, isn't that right, Constable?" Tut asked in a mocking voice and Turpin gritted his teeth, but he could do barely any more to curse due to the fact that a sharp blade was to his throat. "I am a simple man, with simple pleasures. A palace which gives me plenty of room to stretch my legs out, the finest of foods, the most bountiful of women, and tribute paid by everyone in Metropolis. I believe a standard fee would be sixty five percent of your daily income, to be delivered to your King, I think that seems fair, don't you?"

The grumbles by everyone indicated that they thought that wasn't fair.

"Man between him and the tax man, I don't get shit!" one of them yelled out loud and there were feverish nods of agreement.

Tut wasn't done yet. One might assume that he was, but the might Pharaoh had more words to say.

"You see, I'm not one to be trifled with, especially when Metropolis have held some of my artifacts, collecting dust in some museum, and I'm going to get them back, and anyone who stops me, whether man, woman, or Blur, they are going to suffer the consequences," Tut said and he spoke in a bombastic manner and without taking a breath as well. "You see, if you don't follow my rules, then all will suffer. And this land will be visited upon three plagues….."

"Plagues, wrong guy, jackass….."

The loudmouth heckler in the crowd found a sharp spear at his throat by one of Tut's henchmen and he found his ability to speak less obvious. The King went on as if he didn't hear.

"Three plagues, if Metropolis doesn't give me what I want," Tut whispered and everyone muttered. "You have twelve hours to bring forth my demands, lay them upon the Sphinx, or I will unleash the first of three plagues. For every twelve hours after that, I will unleash another, and by the third, all of the snakes will be run out of Metropolis."

Lois thought that this guy must have gave the same level of interest that she did in her history class, which was pretty much none at all. She sighed and came to the conclusion that it was just going to be one of those days.

_Do I even want to point out what's wrong with that speech?_

_You mean besides all of it?_

_Yeah pretty much._

Lois stopped texting back and the guards walked around, and imposed their will on the crowd. She thought that she recognized one of their faces from Metropolis's top ten most wanted, but she wasn't sure.

In an act of bravery, or maybe stupidity, Lois snapped a picture of the guard and hoped to cross reference it later.

"Alright, I'm going to need some heavy back up," Turpin said, and he winced when his ribs ached. The man could barely breath.

Lois looked up in the sky, almost as if she expected to see a bird or a plane, but she saw absolutely nothing.

'_Why is there never a decent Blur around when you need her?' _Lois thought, and she waited for Chloe to get back to her on that cross-reference for that face.

* * *

"Well, we've got some real fun here, especially given the guy who is under the guise of Tut…well he's kind of messed up to be honest," Barbara said and she trailed off, not knowing what else to say other than that, when two people were on the scene. "I'm sure that you've figured out by now that the Sphinx is just a really elaborate piece of recording equipment."

Barbara and Harry were having a nice little back and forth, trying to find out the nature of what they're dealing with, along with the nature of the one and only King Tut.

"Figured out as much," Harry whispered, it was getting close to night and he wondered if any of the people of Metropolis would take this situation seriously or not. It was a fifty-fifty shot that they would and he was sure that some of it would.

That being said, under the guise of Arcane, Harry tried to figure out the residue that he found. If he could piece that puzzle together, it would bring him one step closer to solving this baffling case.

"Professor William Omaha McElroy had an accident three days ago, he disappeared along with several students and the facility at Met-U, and this wasn't the first time this happened," Barbara explained and she sighed. "He worked at Yale for years, but he was caught in the meteor shower twenty years ago, and he was left on the museum with nothing but audio tapes that talked about the 18th dynasty. He suffered a mental break and believed himself to be King Tut, but his fractured mind also intermingled certain parts of history."

Harry knew that he was dealing with someone who was slightly unhinged. He had no idea though how unhinged the man was. Each piece of information proved to be more unsettling than the last.

"Like the plagues, like the plagues," Harry said and Barbara nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, like the plagues," she confirmed and the redhead shifted her arms together and tapped her foot on the ground. A loud sound caused her ears to perk up and she listened closely. "I'm talking with a few of my sources…..apparently, he was able to compel people to believe the delusion…..and a second break happened years ago when his wife died. He grew mad and warped back into Tut, and tried to steal the organs of several women so he could revive his wife, it was a ghastly process. He must have had a good lawyer and he got the treatment that he needed, and didn't fall off the wagon for the past few years."

Barbara might have rambled but Harry easily reconciled each piece of information.

"So, he had his first break around the time of the meteor shower, a second more prominent break around the time of his wife's breath, and this break which was the worst of all," Harry answered, and he sighed, this was not a common criminal he dealt with. This was a man who had lost all sense between reality and fantasy.

When he was on his medications, McElroy was not a bad person per say, but off them…..the thought mortified Harry. Harry figured, and was likely not wrong, that the man assumed that he didn't need the medications. It was a folly that many made.

"Do you think that he'll follow through on his plans?"

"I think that he intends to, whether tribute is paid to him or not," Harry said and he tried to open the Sphinx without disturbing it. He might be able to find a clue inside as to where Tut was holed up.

'_He's not well, I don't even know why Met-U hired him,' _Karen thought, that was one of their more questionable hiring decisions.

'_The man has the credentials to make people look the other way,' _Helena thought.

Harry looked over his shoulder.

"Is the coast clear?"

"Yes, it is."

Harry waited for his companion to walk out of the shadows and he faced her. She stood before him and her beauty would have stopped traffic at rush out. Gorgeous raven locks curled down her body, and framed a face that looked like it was sculpted by the gods. Bright blue eyes shined with passion and intensity. Many envied her fit body with ample breasts, a flat stomach, long legs, dressed in a one piece red, white, and blue suit that fit around her body, and knee high boots, along with a tiara and bracelets.

"So Wonder Woman, are you ready….."

"Yes," she said, the armor had been a gift from her mother upon her arrival to man's world. She took a step towards Harry and the grin crossed her face at that name.

'_So would that make me Wondergirl?' _Donna asked and she shook her head and smiled. _'Not sure if I like that, because it implies that I'm your side kick and I'm a married woman.'_

'_The term partner appears to be more favorable, then the term sidekick,' _Diana offered her sister with a shrug.

'_I don't know, it's just a way to dress up an unfavorable term, into a favorable one,' _Kara thought, and she smiled. _'Either go broke or don't go at all.'_

'_Any luck?' _Karen asked, swiftly. As much as she was amused by this interaction, there was much to be done.

Harry spoke both mentally to his wives and out loud to Diana. "There is a tiny bit of residue on this Sphinx, makes me think that it was cleaned down, but someone missed a spot."

"Could it be a clue?" Wonder Woman asked and Harry smiled.

"I think that it might be a clue," Harry agreed, and he transmitted the scans to Barbara, so she could look up the chemical compound.

"Okay, we're thirty six minutes and counting to go before Tut unleashes his first plague, I'm surprise he didn't unleash another proclamation to remind people that they're supposed to pay up, or they'll be sorry," Barbara said and there was a second where she paused.

"Stand by for an announcement from your mighty Pharaoh, King Tut."

It was almost like you could set your watch by these proclamations. Wonder Woman and Arcane exchanged a nervous look. Arcane tracked where the radio was in the Sphinx, but he figured that someone else gave the proclamation from an entirely separate area. That was something that he could prove with some form of clarity.

"I hope his majesty is happy about this," a man grumbled when he walked forward, and several others made their way with them.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, does he not realize that we don't get a paycheck every day, what if we don't have any money?" another man grunted.

All he got in response was numerous shrugs and Wonder Woman and Arcane stayed in the shadows. He touched his hand to her arm and she shivered. The tingle she felt was not because of something like that, it was because of the fact that her body shifted into a more invisible status.

"Amazing," she whispered, she felt him make both of them invisible and all it took was a touch of their hand. "Why don't you use this all the time?"

"It drains the battery," Harry said and he paused. "That's why I only use it when necessary."

'_It drains my battery, come to think of it,' _Harry thought, sustained invisibility was a feat of concentration, even with the artifact he merged with.

"Then we better move," Diana said and she sensed a greater urgency than ever before.

"I see many people who have scrounged up the tribute for your king and that is good," Tut said and everyone could sense the 'but" coming. "BUT….I've heard others say that I'm a hoax, a publicity stunt, and everything else. I am displeased with your lack of faith, but not entirely surprised. Some people refuse to have faith, and you shameless harlots, I'm about ready to prove you wrong. Proof will be presented in thirty minutes, unless you have a change of heart. You think that your heroes, your false idols can protect you."

Tut's voice grew more bombastic and dramatic. It was almost like he slipped further into his madness.

"But….I REMIND YOU…..that no man….woman…BLUR…..or BAT will be able to stop me from returning my kingdom to the modern world," Tut continued, and he sounded frantic. "I only do this, not out of malice, but to save the world, to reestablish a dynasty that had been lost to history, but it can be reclaimed again. I will…I will guide you all to another age."

A few caved in, and the Sphinx shot up red hot flames as a warning.

"Yes, put this as a blip on your six o'clock news."

"So, any luck on tracking the signal?" Harry whispered to Barbara and he sensed her smile through the bond network.

"Give me a minute," Barbara said and Diana looked over her shoulder, and the thunderous approach of the royal guard could be heard.

The guards armed themselves to the teeth. It was obvious that now as the time to make themselves known. Harry and Diana turned to face them, being at the business end of several spears.

"Who dares interfere with our king's plans?"

Diana turned around, and she arched an eyebrow, she wondered if they joked. But if they did, she really wasn't laughing now. Especially given how serious the situation had grown into being.

'_I think that they're talking about me, aren't they?' _Arcane asked and Karen and Helena chimed in for agreement.

He would sort out who were the deranged ex-cons, and who were the students and faculty who Tut brainwashed after he knocked them off. Right now, he slipped on a pair of brass knuckles and braced himself for battle. It was going to be a rough one.

"And here I thought tonight would be boring," Diana muttered, and she watched one of them charge her. She caught his spear and hurled him onto the pavement like he was nothing. "I guess I was wrong."

Harry snorted in amusement. He offered one of the hands an offhand backhand punch. After that deed was done, he turned back towards Diana. "Stick around with me long enough, and you'll see just how exciting life could be."

His hands raised into the air before he jabbed it towards his enemy. The cracking of ribs and the pained growl indicated that Harry struck his target flush. One quick jab doubled his enemy over and knocked the wind out of him. Another punch cracked his ribs and he blocked the two spears.

He super charged them with energy from his suit and blew them off of their feet. That allowed Diana to finish them off and swiftly knock them out. She tried not to look too smug because there was much work to do.

* * *

King Tut hunched over the staff that he got his hands on from the University. It proved to be a fairly enlightening study. Just as he suspected, it was from a lesser king than him, but he had to be certain of his abilities, and those abilities would be the ones that would lead him to greater prominence.

"So, is he going to be staring at that all of the time?" one of the henchmen whispered.

"Hey, the man busted us out of prison, are you going to be asking too much questions?" another henchmen asked.

"Yeah…but don't you feel stupid wearing this shit?" he asked and the another goon shrugged.

"Not really, I've worn worse…..looked like something outta Wonderland before," a third goon said and the other two turned to him. There were questioning looks. The goon clammed up. "Don't ask, just don't ask, you're better off not knowing, trust me about that."

"Right," one of them grumbled. "What's with this plague shit…..I mean wasn't it another guy who did the plague shit?"

"I don't know, I don't even know who this Tut cat is, I just jumped on the bandwagon when he released guys with prison," the goon said and the other goons stared at him like he lost his mind.

"You've never heard of King Tut?" the goon asked and the other goon glared at him.

"Nah, I've never heard of him, must have never been important…"

"That just shows that you don't know nothing," the goon replied and he shook his head. "Tut, you know King Tut, born in Arizona, then he moved to Babylonian, or some shit like that."

"I thought that was the guy that owned the palace in Vegas," a fourth goon said, when he returned from guard duty.

"Nah, that's Caesar…I think he died when some guy named Brutus stabbed him in the back."

"Brutus, that sounds like a guy who should be a barber," one of the thugs muttered underneath his breath.

The guards would have continued their banter. More important things demanded their attention when their boss's boisterous voice forced them to snap forward and stand at attention.

"Royal guard, to arms, and to me!" Tut yelled and the four goons stood up and nearly tripped over themselves. Tut groaned and shook his head. "I don't know why I can't find good help these days…..I mean, I never had this problem back home. These scrubs look like they were born on the wrong side of the Nile."

The Royal Guard stumbled over towards the man and Tut swiped his eyes down the row and scowled.

"Now, I've looked over this staff…..it belonged to a lesser king then me…" Tut said and he trailed off. He kept looking over the staff. The faux pharaoh grew rather attached to it."But, something about it….whoever had it, he had power. And lots of it, but the thing is, he didn't know how to use it."

The Royal Guard nodded in response. It was just best that they smile and nod. Agree with everything that he said. Tut looked pleased that he had an audience for his grand speeches so he pressed on.

"But, if he really knew how to use it, then he would be the one that was about ready to bring all of Metropolis to their knees, now wouldn't he?" Tut asked in response and they all shrugged. "For all of you who don't know, that was a rhetorical question…..that is, a question that you don't have to answer, for the answer is so obvious."

He lapsed back into College Professor mode although he came across a bit more of an asshole than McElroy ever was. He snapped back into Tut in a second though.

"That being said, I hold a mighty staff in my hands…..what in the devil is so funny?"

One of the goons could not help to crack up at the term "mighty staff." Tut flew off the handle, his rage boiling over.

"You think it's a joke, you think it's a joke, HE THINKS IT'S A JOKE!" Tut screamed. He should feed this scrub to his crocodiles.

"No, no, boss, I don't think it's a joke, I'm sure that you're all powerful, and all that," the goon said, but Tut raised his eyebrow and the other goons backed off. Despite the fact that he was a rotund pharaoh and they were muscular goons, they still backed off in fear. They saw what he did to the guards at the prison.

"You don't think that I'm a joke, do you?" Tut whispered and his voice grew increasingly deadly when he looked up at the goon. "Well, guess what…."

Tut pulled back and the goon allowed a breath to leave his body. He thought that he was about ready to get it.

"I don't believe you."

The staff plunged into his chest, and caused his body to glow with energy. Before the eyes of each and every one of Tut's henchmen, the goon exploded into a shower of blood and guts.

"And that's why you don't ever question your king," Tut said and the goons muttered and shook their heads, they wouldn't dare, they would never dare. The King smiled and added as an afterthough. "And one of you get a mop and clean this mess up…..I need to give one more proclamation, that is their ten minute warning after all, and we must be fair."

If there was a penny out of place, then all of Metropolis would suffer from the arrogance of a few. This was something that he needed to do to sustain his authority. If he wavered and allowed exceptions, then what kind of King would he be for something like that. He strode forward and took a look at the Sphinx, and decided to check in on his royal guard.

Half of the royal guard was down on the ground, and he saw two figures disappear into the distance. To say Tut's rage boiled would be putting things mildly.

"TREASON, TREASON, TREASON!" he shouted.

The Pharoah held the staff in his hand and it heated up. He calmed himself down before he blew a hole into his palace. He held his breath and counted to ten slowly, slowly, calming himself down. He cooled himself down. His eyes fixed on the staff. It was almost like it questioned why he got so angry.

"No, no, no, I didn't mean to talk so crossly with you, my precious staff," he cooed and he shook his head. "You know….I need to figure out what I need to do to them…..before it's too late."

Tut bounced up to his feet and began to pace around, his eyes flashed with anger when he considered options.

Boiled in oil, that was a good one, or being fed to his pet alligators, he could appreciate either one. They sounded like good fates for those who dare besmirch his kingdom.

"Okay, okay, watch your blood pressure; you've got a proclamation to make and a warning to give to those so called do-gooders."

He checked the time; he needed to make a point. He turned to the remaining goons and he gave one statement.

"RELEASE THE LOCUSTS!"

They paused, despite the time not being up. The glare in their boss's eyes offered no room for response.

"Still think that he's off his rocker."

"Yeah, but you saw what happened to the other guy, are you willing to take your chances?" the goon asked and that question was as the Professor said, rhetorical. The goon shook his head rapidly. "No way pal, absolutely not."

* * *

"So, we're reaching the five minute warning and some of you have yet to pay up your proper tribute to your king."

Harry slammed the stone shield into the face of the last royal guard and knocked him out. They stacked on the ground, completely knocked out for the count. They would have to be sorted out later. It was time to deal with the mighty pharaoh.

"We've taken them all out and there's no sign of Tut."

Diana thought that these attacks would draw the delusional king out, but he played his cards extremely close to his chest. She wondered if there was another round of guards just waiting for him. Exactly how many people he liberated from prison could not be ascertained.

"Ladies and gentlemen, stand by for another message from your almighty Pharaoh."

Diana warily eyed the sphinx. "Guess that I spoke too soon."

Harry nodded in response and he and Barbara about isolated a signal. "Guess you did."

Barbara chimed in with an update on her status for Harry. _'I'm in position right about now, it's one of three locations within Metropolis and once I've gotten this pinpointed, we'll figure out if it's in one of two, hopefully.'_

'_Hopefully,' _Kara said. She crossed her fingers, hoped for the best. This was getting to be an extremely tense situation and the world was watching.

'_Barbara, he's pausing for a second…..something's up,' _Harry thought and his words lingered.

He intensely watched to see what would happen and he heard something angrily buzzing. It was not like bees that buzzed either, it was something else.

And he doubted very much it was the welcome wagon. He pivoted on his feet.

"Is that what nasty plague he had for us, or is that Tut?"

Harry about answered Diana's question, only one problem for that though; he realized that he didn't know. Therefore he kept his mouth shut. He focused with a razor sharp focus one would expect from someone like Harry Potter.

"Going to find out in a moment that I guess."

Karen chimed in through the bond link. _'We have a problem…actually I'll just cut to the chase and not leave you in suspense. Tut managed to get his hands on some locusts…..and he's unleashed them into Metropolis.'_

Harry filtered the information back to Diana. "Locusts, on your right."

"Wonderful," Diana said, and she could see them, along with the panicked population. It was going to be harder to deal with this in a timely manner when people freaked out around them. "Do you have a plan?"

"I always do," Harry muttered, and with one more swoop, he landed down onto the ground. He motioned for Diana to follow him.

She followed him on down, this had not been her first team-up type situation, especially with Harry. This enemy was far more dangerous than the last one.

The screams of the people unnerved the Amazon princess, and she looked up. The locusts on the other hand, they were merely pests to deal with.

The moment of truth was at hand and Harry stood, and waved his hand in a circle. The locusts, which spread out all over Metropolis, decided to avert their attention to him.

The locusts swarmed towards him, and Arcane waved to them. He could feel Wonder Woman's eyes linger on him, and he muttered underneath his breath two simple words. "Almost there."

Karen, Kara, Donna, Barbara, and Helena all were present in the bond link, but they remained silent. Or maybe Harry blocked their chatter off.

He waved his hands and Tut's plague disappeared into a flash of bright light. Everyone looked confused, and Arcane was already gone along with Wonder Woman. They were left speculating on their mysterious saviors and what their intention was.

"Well, that could have gone badly," Wonder Woman said, and Arcane smiled in response. "I guess that I just expected more of a fight than that, the Royal Guard gave us more of a fight than that first plague."

Arcane wished that it was over. He knew better, it was just beginning. "That's the key thing, Diana, it's the first plague, he will save the worst for last, mark my words."

"I've got something," Barbara chimed in and Harry grunted to indicate that he was all ears. "I think that I might have tracked the signal…..and yes you were right."

Karen and Helena chimed in together through the bond link. _'Of course he was.'_

"Of course you're right, why wouldn't you be right?" Barbara asked. "The signal is not coming from inside the Sphinx, it's just a speaker. I may have uncovered Tut's lair."

Harry slowly turned to Diana. "I know that it must be obvious….."

"Never assume the obvious," Diana said and she waited for Harry to tell her what he thought was obvious.

"But we could be walking very much into a trap."

Diana sighed in response and would have to agree. "I guess that was obvious."

Harry awaited for Barbara to give him the location or the general area. He hoped to shut down Tut once and for all, before he could unleash the other two Plagues. That was his intention anyway and he hoped that it was right.

* * *

Wonder Woman and Arcane stopped in front of an Egyptian themed restaurant that decked out to look like a palace. She turned to Arcane and smiled. "I don't suppose you think that this should be the place."

Harry looked up at the place. It resembled a royal palace and therefore it would fit someone like Tut's vanity.

"It just might be, approach carefully," Harry said he stepped up towards the entrance. Barbara found more information through her searching.

"This closed down last year," Barbara whispered to Harry and when she knew that he had his full attention on her she continued. "It belonged to a guy named Morgan Edge, he's a big time businessman."

'_With criminal ties, although that can't be proven,' _Kara chimed in once again, and Barbara was annoyed that she was interrupted. Kara sounded almost apologetic because of this fact. _'Continue, Babs, continue.'_

"It was a money sink before then, some other guy pawned it off on Edge, who I guess got a nice hefty tax break off of it," she continued, not breaking her stride over the communication network.

Harry smiled, and decided to check the lock. Much to his surprise and interest, someone left the door unlocked. He raised his eyebrow and his trap sense continued to heighten a little bit more.

"So, someone's been here recently," Diana suggested to him, and she paused, and went for the other possibility. "Or they want to make us think that they did."

Harry leaned towards the making them think that someone did, because the tables inside clouded with dust. It seemed to indicate that no one was here for an extremely long time. Appearances could lead to deception.

He saw someone in the shadows, and immediately, he rushed forward and slammed the person on the ground.

It was one of Tut's goons, his Tutlings for lack of a better term, and Harry held her in his grip. She looked to be completely and utterly out to lunch mentally speaking.

"You're the one who ceases to stop the master's dynasty," she whispered to him in a cryptic voice.

Harry had no time and even less patience for the vague words of this woman. "Listen, I'm not paying any games…"

Harry was by the far off look in her eye that Tut brainwashed her, and he slackened his grip on her. He bound her, but she was only a danger to herself at this point. She believed her master's every word and would die for them all.

'_Obvious look out is obvious.'_

There was agreement from Donna's proclamation within the bond link and Harry waited to see if any more Tutlings were around. He watched Diana look from one side to the other. She scoped out the entire restaurant with a long sweeping look and her eyes fell back to Harry.

"Nothing," she muttered in disappointment, she prepared herself for the hunt and now the hunt would have to be delayed for a time.

"I'm sure that you're upset, but…."

An answer was lost to time, an explosion followed. Harry's head spun around and he nearly achieved whiplash when he fell over onto the ground. Diana caught him and held him up.

The explosions rattled all of Metropolis, and Harry heard the screams in the distance. He pushed open the doors of the restaurant and spied it.

Roaring water rushed down the streets and was on approach. Diana looked towards Harry and waited for her worst fears to be confirmed. It was perfectly obvious what was happening now.

"The second plague?"

Harry nodded, they could handle themselves well, the citizens of Metropolis were another matter entirely. Some rushed for higher ground, but as the streets got flooded that they were not going to outrun the tide.

"Hera help us," Diana whispered and Harry took her by the hand, he had to find the origins of the leaks.

'_I'd say we get all of the goddesses in on this one,' _Donna thought, perhaps it was just her, but she sensed something in the air.

This Tut was far more than a demented college professor who got bonked on the head. He had really flipped out on the deep end. Something pushed him further than his own regular psychosis.

"I told you, I told you to pay tribute to me, this is what happens when you play games with me, and you become disloyal subjects, and allow interlopers into my kingdom!"

**To Be Continued On October 14****th**** 2014. **

* * *

**So Tut might be a few bricks short. But that's to be expected to be honest. **

**Some Diana and Harry moments in this chapter which is always a good thing.**

**Lois being Lois as always and someone makes a cameo via text message before showing up properly later on. **


	26. Curse of Tut Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Six: Curse of Tut Part Two. **

* * *

Metropolis hit a state of panic, when the floods filled the streets, and there was a city wide evacuation. Everyone lost their minds, which was not good, because thousands could drown if they did not get to safety.

'_And Tut went to the throat for that one,' _Karen added. She flew over the city, and used her X-Ray vision to see where the flooding was the most prominent. There she would find the bombs that he planted, she was sure of that.

Kara followed her and searched as well. She sighed and dive bombed and plucked a civilian who dangled from one of the buildings.

She whimpered in fear and Kara managed to bring her halfway across the city.

"You're in safe hands, trust me," Kara said and she smiled and flew off.

'_A lot of people think that they're invincible, and they could ride the worst of it out…..kind of hard to stop a flood if we don't know where it's starting,' _Kara thought. She had another thought. _'You know for a magical plague, this isn't really…..'_

'_It isn't really what?' _Karen asked her curiously.

'_I mean, he planted bombs…'_

'_Despite his delusions, he doesn't have magical powers, not that the real King Tut ever did,' _Harry replied.

Helena piped in. _'Of course the real King Tut died when he was eighteen years old or so.'_

'_Yeah, the guy's nuttier than a fruit loop, therefore historical accuracy isn't really something that we should expect him to strive for,' _Donna thought, and she placed her hand on the side of her face. _'So, what's the deal with you and Diana…..I mean are you getting close to closing in….'_

That question would have to wait to be answered, for right now Kara dove down to the street level and saw the bubbling underneath the ground.

She smiled when she realized what it was. _'Jackpot.'_

Kara held her breath and dove underneath the water. Karen followed her; perhaps it was not the best idea to go into cold water while wearing a tight costume that clung to her body.

Karen shrugged at the thought of it. _'Oh well too late now, guess we're going to…..'_

Kara stopped her thought process cold and dodged her. The younger blonde crooked one finger and a copper manhole cover waited for them.

The blonde dove down to the manhole cover and placed her hands on it. She squinted her eyes and carefully caused the water not to boil them both when she sliced it open. Then she pulled up the manhole cover.

Kara did the job and could see where the water pumped inwards. It was some kind of crude pump like device that sent the water into the city. It rapidly pumped the water in and out and threatened to flood anyone in the city. She analyzed in an attempt to find some kind of defect in the city.

'_Looks like something that someone build in their basement on a slow afternoon,' _Kara said, but she was not one to argue with the results and the results was that it worked. The blonde looked things over, while Karen sealed the opening so no more water could pump out into the city, at least from this vantage point.

Barbara jumped onto the call. _'Be that as it may, do you think that you can shut it down?'_

'_Please, I built something like this before I walked,' _Kara said, and she pried open the piece of technology. It was time for her to get to work and see what she could do with this.

The blonde worked things and the pumping stopped and just in time too. She thought for one wild second that she and Karen could relax now.

"So, can I breathe now?"

Kara laughed at her older counterparts annoyed expression, but she nodded eagerly. She gave Karen a critical look over and liked what she saw. Mostly because of the white costume clinging to every curve her body and adding to transparency.

"Hey, Supergirl, my eyes are up here,' Karen said. She tried to look all serious, but she was failing at that in the most miserable way possible, which caused Kara's mad giggles to explode. She looked rather mad to be honest.

"I know they are….oh the look on your face, that's priceless."

'_Okay ladies, save it for later, you still got two more pumps to disable.'_

So far, so good for both of them, or at least so far no Tutlings down there, but then again, there was the mysterious third plague that Tut wanted to deliver.

'_You've bought Metropolis some relief, but there are two more points at every point during the city, and you may have to vaporize some of it,' _Helena informed them.

Karen nodded, and she and Kara made their way up so they could go back into the city. _'We'll keep that in mind when we get out there.'_

Never one to be ignored, Donna asked the question that the chaos cut her off by earlier. _'So how are you and Diana….'_

'_Following another lead,' _Harry said sharply. Not that he minded talking to his wives, but they needed to find Tut. He was of the highest priority in the here and now. _'I do have a piece of bad news that I'd like to share with you.'_

Karen groaned and she was far from the only one. _'What?'_

'_Tut took a staff that may have mystical properties.'_

Donna jumped in with the obvious statement and cut off Harry before he could finish speaking. _'I thought you said that he didn't have a single drop of magic in his body, didn't you?'_

Karen and Kara closed in on the second pump, but they knew that they would have to listen to that and exactly why Tut having this staff was extremely dangerous.

'_Magical artifacts are a funny and kind of annoying thing,' _Harry explained to all of the girls and they leaned in closely. _'They can empower people really easily that shouldn't be empowered. And it never ends well, period, no matter how much you slice it.'_

Karen found the pump and disabled it while Kara plugged up the leak. _'So you're pretty much saying that the safest person to have a magical artifact, is a magical person.'_

'_That's exactly what I'm saying,' _Harry said, now that he had a good idea what Tut had in his hands, he could hopefully calibrate a working energy signature with his suit and track the man. _'Power is an interesting thing and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That being said, I wouldn't really trust a magical artifact in the hands of a magical either. But yes they're more adept to holding and controlling the power.'_

Kara could not help, but do a triumphant dance. _'Two down, and one to go.'_

Barbara jumped in to amend her with a correct. _'Two down and one to go, as far as you know.'_

Kara crossed her arms and scowled deeply in response. _'Must you try and bring down everything that I do…..I was just…..'_

'_Easy Kara,' _Harry warned the blonde and she blinked and nodded. _'Just focus on the three that we know about, and we'll try and worry about anything else that might come up. The water levels went down, you two girls are doing an excellent job. Keep up the good work.'_

* * *

"And there's a fourth bomb, but it didn't get detonated," Harry said with the report coming in and Diana stood at his shoulder. Not that he complained at all about one of the bombs not getting detonated, but he really wanted to know why that didn't happen.

Diana looked a bit satisfied by that fact, and Harry turned towards her. She threw her hands up into the air.

"I don't suppose you have anything to do with that, do you?"

Diana smiled in response, she figured that since she got caught red handed, she might as well come unclean. "Well…..since we're in Metropolis, I managed to get in touch with a friend of mine to see if we can get some help….."

Almost as on cue, Harry looked up in the sky. He didn't see a bird, he didn't see a plane, rather he saw something streak across the sky at the speed of light. Or perhaps faster than a speeding bullet, Harry wasn't too sure. Regardless Harry was happy to have some help no matter who it was.

"So that's….."

Diana confirmed what he asked with a wide smile and nodded, placing her hand onto his shoulder. "Yes, that's…"

"I figured as much," Harry replied, but a scream reached his ears. The Blur sighting would have to wait, and the cascading waters went down, but they surrounded on particular area of Metropolis.

The girls didn't take care of the last pump just yet, so Harry saw that a few unfortunate people got caught in the middle. Most of them likely with no thought for their own personal safety.

One of them was Lois Lane herself, who dangled from a flagpole, and several people stood around her, and backed off with the water rising from all sides on a low rooftop.

One of the girls screamed and Lois almost let go. Actually scratch that she did let go. The reporter nearly fell down to her doom. Someone caught her before she did.

Lois prepared to face her usual blur like savor, but found that this was something different. There was a young man dressed in a sleek black bodysuit with a hood pulled over his face, obscuring all of his features.

She hated being in a position, especially when she can do something about it, and really she did a lot to discreetly make sure some of these people did not drown themselves because they obviously had no thought for their own well-being.

'_Then again, I don't have any room to talk at all,' _Lois thought and she turned around to take a look at her savor.

Only said savor was gone and she was on dry land. In fact, upon closer look, all of Metropolis was on dry land. It was amazing, almost as if the flood stopped almost as soon as it started.

Lois shook her head, this was one of those nights she had a feeling, and the King of Insanity still had one more plague to unleash.

_Lois, are you there?'_

Lois realized that she had been in the middle of texting information back and forth, as her cousin helped her uncover where Tut was holed up, and she had got swept away, helping these people.

_Here, yes, I nearly drowned, but sometimes that can't be helped._

_Actually, you can help that, you know._

_Didn't want let that particular cat out of the bag._

_Or you were just hoping for another Blur sighting today…..well she is in the area._

_Actually not the Blur, someone else._

Harry and Diana walked away from the scene, glad to be on mostly dry land. Sure there was some wet spots and a lot of water damage that they couldn't undo, but they were glad.

A storm cloud brewed high above their heads that could be a potentially bad open for things to come today.

Diana turned towards Harry once she caught her breath and smiled. "So, you had your first Lois Lane rescue, didn't you?"

"I guess one could say that, although I might have stopped a train that she was on one time from crashing, or maybe that is a plane," Harry said and he smiled. "This one might have been considered more personal. She does have that unfortunate knack of finding trouble, but…..call me crazy….."

"You know there's nothing in this world that I would really call crazy," Diana said, and she saw enough to realize that there was a fair deal of insanity in the world. Things that made a person's skin crawl if they lived a normal life.

Thankfully Diana didn't live anything remotely approaching a normal life. So she would gladly accept what Harry had to say at face value.

"I think that she could save herself at least half of the time, she just chooses not to, because it's the rush that she gets getting in danger," Harry said and he stopped to make sure that his tracker was properly calibrated. When it was, he continued. "Of course, I think that if she was in any real danger….."

"She would save herself," Diana muttered.

Kara chimed in with her two cents. _'You know, that really does make a lot of sense, her getting off on the danger factor.'_

Harry smiled and decided to praise his two lovely wives. _'You did a good job with disabling the bombs….the city is now safe…..at least until Tut decides to strike again.'_

'_Hopefully you can get close to him before he strikes again,' _Barbara said, and she looked through the records. She had a few probable hideouts for Tut, but all of them came up dead ends so far. Helena searched some of them on her own time, while Harry and Diana tracked in their own way. If they met in the middle, the more the merrier because a number of eyes tracking down Tut would lead them to him. _'You don't…..you don't have any idea where he might be holed up, do you? Because I don't have the slightest idea at all, and that worries me.'_

Harry smiled, he didn't have a direct idea where Tut might be holed up. He popped over to try his old office at Yale, but no luck, and a couple of other places that Tut resided in previously. His house that he lived in with his wife was sold about three years back and McElroy lived in a modest apartment in Metropolis.

That apartment was abandoned, with nothing out of place. It looked as if the person who lived there just left for an extremely long trip.

'_You know, we're just going to have to track him, if he uses the staff again, it may create a tracking beacon that leads us right to him.'_

* * *

Tut hoisted a chair over his head and angrily hurled it against the wall. The chair shattered into hundreds of tiny little toothpick like pieces and he breathed in and out, in an attempt to keep himself calm.

Oh he was calm, he was so calm…..calm as could be.

Tut smashed the table that his scrolls sat on and his henchmen backed up against the wall.

"How is it….how is it…HOW IS IT?" he asked and he started breathing in and out and hyperventilating

Tut slumped down on the table and started to sob which really terrified them. He sobbed and started to smash up the table more and more. His sobs got more pronounced the more he smashed up the table. "I try….I try do what's right for this city. I could protect them all, all they could serve me. All I ask for is a little compensation for my time and efforts…."

Tut stood up to his feet and was straight up. His voice sounded raw when he glared at his men.

"But, no that's too much to ask, that's way too much to ask," Tut whispered harshly and he started to pace back and forth in a circle. "Oh, you think that it wouldn't be, but you know that it's way too much to ask…..from all of them…and now they're interfering with my plans. They coddled them from punishment."

Tut's low and normal voice unsettled the criminals, but jarringly and abruptly, it snapped into the crazed tone that they all knew and loved.

"BUT NO!" Tut shouted and they backed off and freaked out something fierce. The king stood up straight and his eyes glared at them piercingly. "You see, they think of me as nothing but the boy king. They think that I died for the sake of tourism!"

Tut stepped over, and picked up the staff. It hummed in his hand and he started to stab his henchmen in the chest.

"Well they're wrong, wrong, wrong, DEAD WRONG!" Tut yelled. The crazed villain emphasized each word with a sharp jab of the staff and suddenly, the men popped again. He paused, and took a look at them, or what was once his men. "Well, that's an interesting little side effect now isn't it?"

Their skin turned sallow and yellow, their teeth looked jagged and their nails looked black.

"Master, master…."

Tut's eyes glared at the staff and he lifted it to his lips and prepared to kiss it.

At the last instant he pulled back and thought better of it. "No, no, I don't think that you all want me to put my lips around a large wooden staff, now do you?"

Tut's eyes followed them greedily, and the possibilities proved to be endless. Zombies, he should have thought about that earlier. Zombies didn't talk back to him, no they respected the authority.

The second plague was a bust, even though it should have worked. But each generation had its own do-gooders, and Tut ran into his.

He pulled over the view screen, dangle fangled piece of technology or not, it had its uses. His beady little eyes fixed on Arcane and his face looked foul. "Oh you think that you're so clever, I bet that he thinks that he's so clever, doesn't he?"

Tut spun to face the zombies. They all nodded slowly.

"Brains?" one of the zombies asked.

"Don't know, we'll see," Tut said and he got down onto his knees and clutched the staff firmly in his hand. His hand stroked it up and down. "You see here, this is power. It's just like my grandfather told me, the man who commands the largest staff…rules the kingdom."

Tut looked up into the sky and praised the gods. The gods should enjoy the taste of the godhood that they had while things last.

"I thought that I had it all figured out a long time ago but wait…there's something that I'm missing," King Tut said and he sprung up to his feet. He moved with surprisingly agility for an overstuffed Pharaoh and he paced back and forth. "Oh, in the name of Osirius, I should have made a list."

Tut paced back and forth, while his recently zombified subjects stared back at him in confusion.

"Oh let's see, let's see….got to think of something, I had it a minute ago," Tut muttered underneath his breath and he continued his pacing back and forth. He shook his head, he was sure that it would come to him. He raised one beady finger and prepared to tick off his list.. "A kingdom to rule…..soon enough, soon enough."

Tut coughed and lifted up another finger when he checked it off in his head.

"A host of loyal subjects…well it took a little tinkering, but I think we can check that one off of the list."

"BRAINS!"

Tut shrugged, more to himself than anyone else "Okay, they're a little flawed, but no one's perfect, are they?

With a wheezy cough Tut stopped and continued to shift through various ideas in his head.

"Let me see, let me see, let me see…um…power source, I got that one….revenge on all of the people that have ever wronged me…"

Tut's eyes averted to the image of one called Arcane and he added in a grumbling voice. "A work in progress."

The crazed king placed his fingers to the top of his head and started to stroke the top of his head, as if that would stimulate the thought process.

He slammed his hand down and hit one of his followers. He knocked his head off, due to the fact that he was a walking body of rotting flesh.

"Oh, well that's unfortunate, guess I better worry about making them zombie of mind and not zombie of body," Tut whispered, but then he snapped up. Inspiration dawned upon the mighty Pharaoh. "Oh, that's it, that's it, oh, that's it, I'VE GOT IT!"

King Tut held the staff in his hand and dropped down to his knees once again. His smile widened again.

"What was a King….without a Queen?' Tut asked and he rocked back and forth, crazed intentions bubbled in his eyes. "I'll answer that question, nothing, less than nothing; he's really and completely….NOTHING!"

Tut laughed like a crazed lunatic that many people would say that they were.

"Oh mighty staff, tell me what you can see, and tell me where the Queen is, that will make you all that I could be," Tut whispered and the staff rattled in his hand and it imparted wisdom upon him.

If Tut already hadn't been a bit out to lunch already, he would have realized that the staff he held slowly cooked his brain cells. The power of this staff brought him into a new level of insanity that was beyond anything that he knew before.

"Well, well, well, I guess that the stars aligned, and brought us together before my subconscious was unlocked in McElroy's brain," Tut said and he turned the staff over in his head. "You have been kind to me, the only thing that I ever loved you know."

Tut cleared his throat, and he looked to the mirror, his eyes looked blood shot and his skin looked a bit dry. In addition to that lanky hair, he looked like a train wreck, but he put it off to the fact that that Arcane and Wonder Woman stopped two of his three well prepared Plagues.

"You know, if you could be my queen, I would marry you, and it would be such a joyous union," Tut whispered and he caressed the staff. He looked at the staff with adoring eyes and cooed when he stroked the large staff in his hand up and down."But unfortunately, I require someone that can present me with future heirs to the throne, and…."

Tut smiled and looked at the staff.

"It isn't you, it's me, I'm a man of certain tastes, but don't worry, we can remain friends and even retain certain benefits,' Tut whispered lovingly to the staff. "And, I'm sure that our relationship will be stronger than ever before."

Tut snapped himself back to reality, or at least as close back to reality as someone like him reached in this day and age.

"Yes, we need to direct the attention of the two do-gooders, whatshisname and whatshername, it doesn't matter, they are mere peasants," Tut whispered and he smiled at his precious magical staff. "But first, mighty staff…lead the way…"

The staff twisted in Tut's hand and caused the zombies to glow. They returned back to perfect health except for the fact that they were under his control.

The last thing Tut wanted to do was clean up rotted skin and worm flesh.

"Now for a little bit of misdirection to really have some fun."

* * *

"Subjects, lend an ear for a message from King Tut…."

'_And here we go again, the royal pain is going to get another proclamation,' _Diana thought, and she approached the Sphinx and ran her hand over it carefully. She was pretty sure that she missed something glaring.

It drove her completely nuts. Diana swore that she missed something vital on this object, in fact she was pretty damn sure of it. The fact that she couldn't figure out exactly what she missed bugged the ever living shit out of her however.

Harry stood by her, and he waited to see what the third plague would be . The locusts were tame, and the floods were a pain. Both of them were something that he could deal with. There was not a shadow of a doubt in his mind that he drove Tut into a fit.

"So, this is it, the end, the final Plague, and yet not all of you will pay," Tut said and he seemed remorseful. "I thought, I hoped, that you would grow to worship me as your king. I mean, you would stand in line, and give your tribute to me. Lie it down on the ground, pay your tribute. Some have, but not all, and I'm disappointed, extremely disappointed."

His voice flattened, and he sounded more like McElroy then Tut.

"BUTTT…..you're not going to get off the hook that easily, you have ten minutes, and counting before I bring down something that not even any of your heroes can stop!" Tut yelled and he was bombastic again. He ran from hot to cold and back to hot at the drop of a hat.

Harry thought it was curious that none of Tut's guard supervised the ground, and some got incensed with what happened.

Harry and Diana moved to a safer location and rocks bounced off the Sphinx when they threw it at them.

"You see….you see…..I don't do this out of hatred, I do this, because I hoped to impart a lesson on you all," Tut whispered again and he sighed. "But I guess that none of you really don't seem to think that you're worthy of learning a lesson…"

'_Getting closer,' _Barbara thought to him and Harry smiled.

'_I am as well, keep me posted,' _Harry thought and he felt a throbbing headache coming on. He could feel the magic in the air and it sickened him. It was way too much for him to absorb power.

Whatever that staff's intended purpose was, it did not seem to be a very friendly one as far as Harry was concerned.

'_Don't worry, I'll keep you posted,' _Barbara thought, and she smiled. _'Let me know if you learn anything.'_

"…..In ten minutes, the skies will open up, and they will not bring down rain, nor snow, but they will bring down meteors…..you see…only the righteous, those who paid tribute to their god will be spared from this horror, and the wicked…..the wicked will be obliterated. There's still time to pay up, and pay up handsomely, but you see…..I don't know how much more I can do, time's running out."

King Tut laughed at this and people felt revolted by how sick this individual was.

Kara pulled a nasty face in particular. After what Harry told her about the staff, she wasn't too certain what to believe anymore. _'Can he do that?'_

'_He believes that he can do that,' _Harry answered her and the blonde's fist curled up.

Karen whistled. _'Pretty big stretch from being a king to a god.'_

'_That's the magic talking,' _Harry thought, wrinkling his nose. He expected a sanity slip. He didn't expect that one this fast.

"And me and my friend will know if you're trying to cheat us out of one cent and…..this goes out to Arcane and Wonder Woman, because I know that you're watching," Tut continued and he laughed. "YOU EVER TRY AND INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS AGAIN, AND I'LL…."

Tut's anger turned into a full blown level of mindless and completely insane swearing. The sound of smashing furniture echoed and everyone listened. The full blown temper tantrum he gave was one for the ages.

He calmed down and started to breath in and out heavily.

"Sorry, my precious, I didn't want you to see that," Tut said lovingly.

'_Is he talking to the fucking staff?' _Karen asked incredulously.

Harry gave a long and prominent sigh to respond to his wife's question. _'Yeah, I'm afraid that he's talking to the fucking staff.'_

'_The guy's went out to lunch, you know that?' _Kara asked, and there was no response to that that was needed.

Other than the one Donna gave and she snickered. _'Wow, Kara, what was your first clue? The mindless swearing, or the fact that he started to treat the magical staff like a beloved sweetheart….yeah I know this is kind of creepy.'_

Harry heard stories of people killing their entire families and then themselves because the magical artifact told them to so. Or so they thought that it did. Even the more mundane ones were asking for trouble, and wands degraded the ability for magical users to think rationally.

Not that all of them were bad, but most of them were. If anything else, all should be used sparingly and with the greatest discretion.

"I guess, what they say is true…you can….you can go home again, and you'd be reunited with the one that you love the most."

'_Is he talking about the bloody staff again?' _Kara asked, and she wondered if Tut should just fuck and get it over with.

The blonde paused at that disturbing thought that entered her head off of that, and she pulled a face in response.

Diana suddenly thought of something, and she turned towards Harry.

"We heard of McElroy…..the day before the accident happened, didn't we?" Diana asked, and things slowly clicked together in her mind.

Harry remembered it right now, and it all went together. He picked up the phone and tried to dial Helena Sandsmark, but the phone was busy.

"We got to get there now, Doctor Sandsmark might be in horrible danger," Harry said and Diana's eyebrow raised an eyebrow and nodded.

'_I'll see if I can beat you there first, or cut them off if they try something,' _Helena said, but she wondered even with her new and improved grapnel, she wondered if she could make it in time.

* * *

"Mom, did you hear what happened?"

Doctor Helena Sandsmark sighed, when her young daughter, Cassie, spoke over the phone to her. Helena was trying to keep her sanity intact.

"Kind of hard not to," Sandsmark said, she graded some papers from the class that she taught. It was only two times a week, and she frowned at the quality of some of the papers that she had in front of her.

Some of them needed a great deal of revision before they could be considered passable.

She thought about Professor McElroy, he wasn't' really a bad guy. He had a lot of misfortunes in his life, and she thought that he deserved a quiet life. The stress of teaching cause what was a third mental break.

The first one was rather minor all things considered. Granted, it wasn't something that she would wish on anyone, but he recovered.

His wife had been his rock and she died. He went on that rampage and kidnapped several young college students and tried to cut them open to take their organs to revive his wife. Thankfully he was stopped before anything fatal could happen to those students.

He got a job at Met-U, and Helena knew that decision was a lot of controversy. Another fluke accident jarred his alternate personality out, and this was the worst of all.

She half looked on the Internet in between grading papers, and he mentioned that one of his colleagues unearthed a staff that was said to have mystical properties. Doctor Sandsmark slowly put two and two together, and found out what she needed to know.

Actually, the staff was said to have driven every holder of it completely mad. You factored that in with a person with questionable sanity to begin with, there were problems.

"So, Mom, when are you coming home?" Cassie asked and she bounced around impatiently.

"In about twenty minutes, honey, I just got to keep grading a few more papers," Helena said and she frowned and marked another paper.

The idea was sound, but the explanation was poorly sounded. She saw that she had a call on the other line. She was so caught up in her work that she allowed herself to wait a moment.

Cassie jabbered on about her day at school and Helena was glad that she had some background noise, because she needed it to distract herself from what happened.

"Don't worry, I'm sure…"

What Helena was sure of was never said, someone thumped angrily on her doors, and she got to her feet, and she peered over the top of her glasses.

"Mom?" Cassie asked and Helena prepared to let her daughter go so she could call the police.

Then she remembered that because of the flood, they might not be able to get over her any time soon. That proved to be a really kick and unfortunate for her.

She never would have had a chance, because one hulking bruiser kicked open the door and two more followed promptly afterwards.

Doctor Sandmark picked up a vase off of her desk and smashed it into the face of one of her would be abductors, but the other two grabbed her and held her down.

"Hold her tight, our king wants her in one piece," one of the grunted, and he showed something that vaguely resembled human thought and emotion.

Doctor Sandsmark tried to struggle her way out of their grip. They held her down tight and one of them applied a firm grip on her neck and caused her slump down to the ground.

Without another word, the large henchmen dragged her from the office and the frantic screams on the other end of the phone echoed from Cassie.

"MOM, MOM, MOM!"

**To Be Continued On October 17****th**** 2014.**

* * *

**King Tut/Magical Staff equals the OTP. **

**Although I figure that a lot of this chapter should be sponsored by Freud.**

**Wondergirl II gets a bit of a cameo in this chapter. **

**And Tut's madness has been a delight to write. **


	27. Curse of Tut Part Three

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Curse of Tut Part Three. **

* * *

Things grew much too quiet when Helena Wayne made her way up the fire escape of the wing of Met-U. She suspected that things shouldn't really be this quiet, after all, after Tut went off with several students and faculty, there should be been security. Security seemed to be kind of lacking after this point.

She dropped down right across from her office, and the Huntress stood in the shadows. She saw two guards, slumped over in a chair.

The coffee spilled on the ground, and she rushed forward to check them out once again. She located several marks on the back of their neck and there was only one logical conclusion to come through all that.

'_Poison,' _she thought grimly and she saw the sweat faced guard. He still was breathing.

Helena turned over her shoulder, and saw Harry and Diana walk up the stairs. She didn't even wait for any pleasantries, rather she faced them straight away. "I think we might be too late…"

Harry held up his hand and Helena leaned in to see what they had to say. "Her office is over to the right, why don't I head in there and see what I can find out?"

"Right, and I'll take care of them."

The sense of foreboding increased and the moment that they stopped at the office door the story was told. It only took a moment to ascertain what happened.

"Crudely kicked in," Harry whispered to Diana and he saw the signs of the struggle.

The strangled screams of "MOM, MOM, MOM" could be heard and they got even more frantic by each moment. They were the type of panicked words that could make a person's heart ache and Harry stepped in.

He scanned the area with his suit. The struggle was fairly recent and Harry looked over his shoulder. "They might still be on the premises….."

"I'll search," Diana said, and she slipped off and allowed Harry to get his work done when he looked around the office.

Harry prepared to go on the hunt and quite the hunt it might have been as well. He saw the smashed vase and got a grim sort of satisfaction that Doctor Sandsmark didn't go down without a fight.

That being said, he was no closer to finding Tut again. That fact galled Harry. The only acceptable answer was that this overstuffed pharaoh managed to get ahead of him utilizing the staff.

'_So, think about something that he said,' _Barbara thought, and she racked her brain as well.

Kara scoffed angrily and crossed her arms. _'You know, he said a lot of things, and half of them I can't even remember what he said, you know.'_

'_Yeah, I know that,' _Barbara agreed in confirmation. _'But the problem with criminals like that is that no matter what, they always leave some kind of hint to their plans. They can't help it.'_

Helena agreed with a grim nod. _'It's a psychosis that many criminals cannot even help themselves in having. It's a good thing for an investigation purpose, but you know, if they were a little more intelligent…..'_

She trailed off on that thought, and Harry decided to attend the phone.

"Hello?"

"Who are you?" the girl on the other end of the phone said. "I heard my mother scream and you…..you better not have done anything to her, because I swear if you did….."

"Relax, I came up to visit your mother, and I found out she was gone…..her office has been broken into," Harry said, he didn't know how much help he would get from a distressed young girl, but anything was worth a shot at this point.

Harry could almost feel that she scowled at him over the phone. At least that's what Harry assumed, she sat the phone down.

"She shouldn't have stayed out that late," the girl said in distress. "You…..I don't know who you are, but you got to find her, okay."

"We will…..we will, and we'll bring her home safely," Harry replied, and he was now determined to kick Tut's head in for what he did.

Sickness or not, the man had something coming to him. He had gone beyond the bend. Then again, whoever hired him was in equally bad health, and then…..well they had some problems, some really big problems.

'_Nothing on my end, but I called the police, not sure how much help they'll be given the circumstances, but we could use all of the help that we can get,' _Helena confirmed to Harry and Harry smiled. She paused, and then grimaced. _'We actually have a bit of a problem.'_

Karen jumped on that one right away. _'Just a bit of a problem.'_

Harry sighed and continued to investigate, while he was on the phone with Doctor Sandsmark's daughter. _'What kind of problem?'_

'_Well, the MCU is in a fight with a bunch of zombie royal warriors,' _Helena thought, and many sighs went through the bond. _'So…..'_

'_On it,' _Kara chimed in, and Karen and Donna agreed in response.

'_You know, I'd be out there, but….'_

'_Barbara, don't worry about it, mission support is one of the more vital parts of this entire mess,' _Harry thought her, and he turned around.

Diana returned, standing at the door, and her arms folded underneath her chest.

"Any luck?" he asked her and he hoped that she would have some good news for him for a change.

"They must have escaped through the basement, it's completely trashed," Diana said, and she closed her fist in frustration. "Any luck with you?"

Harry shook his head, and he put the phone up to his ear. "You know, we'll find her, so why don't you try and relax…..yes, I know, but your mother wouldn't want you to panic until she gets back safely."

"If you don't find her, I'm going to have to go out and do it myself," the girl steadily replied and Harry sighed.

"Please don't do that."

'_Donna, I'm going to need to ask a favor of you,' _Harry thought to his young wife.

'_You know, babysitting duties…'_

'_Gives you a taste of what your sister had to deal with, regarding you, I'm sure,' _Barbara chimed in and Kara laughed.

Donna on the other hand pouted, despite the fact that one hand reached in and patted her on the back of the head. _'Okay, I'll make sure the little brat stays put.'_

Harry turned back, he really needed to key Diana in, because there were times where she was confused. He'd have to get right on that after this mission. He decided to give her a brief recap of what happened. "I sent your sister off to keep an eye on Doctor Sandsmark's daughter, because we don't want her playing hero."

Diana wondered if it was wise for Donna to be the one that would play the cooler head. She supposed that there was no choice though.

"That's some sound strategy," Diana said, and Harry smiled at her in response.

"Glad you thought of it that way," Harry answered and then it hit him.

'_You can go home again.'_

Harry frowned and he turned to Diana, who looked confused at the look on his face. Harry leaned in and whispered to her. "I think I have a good idea where Tut is."

It hit Diana at the same moment. How could they have been so blind?

* * *

'_I swear, if the clue was right underneath our fucking noses this entire time, I am going to scream,' _ Karen fired back and she almost looked amused, if she wasn't so agitated by the entire mess.

The Sphinx that Tut gave his grand proclamations rested in the middle of the city, and the people waited for the final plague. The meteor shower he declared had been late, and the Pharoah was not one to build up anticipations in the minds of his subjects. So he wondered what was going on now.

Then again, the MCU battled the zombie hordes that Tut sent, which made Harry think that the meteor shower was well beyond Tut's capacities, a well-orchestrated bluff all things considered. He wouldn't put it past the man to try something drastic if he had been backed into the corner, so Harry decided not to take any chances, if at all.

Harry turned his attention back to the bond and smiled. _'Feel free to scream, because it has been underneath our noses this entire fucking time. We must have passed this a dozen times and…..'_

He stopped and searched around, there was some kind of control that was in this Sphinx, he knew that much. That being said, he couldn't even begin to find it.

"I found something!"

Diana's triumphant shout was music to Harry's ears and he followed her yells to see exactly what she found. She placed her hands on the panels of the Sphinx and saw a set of switches on it.

"They're jammed," Diana said, and she tried to access it, but the Sphinx was non-responsive.

Harry smiled and prepared to use his suit to override what Tut used to override the manual controls of the Sphinx.

A loud grunt was heard behind them and Harry frowned. He could see something coming out of the corner of his eye and without missing a beat, he yelled to Diana. "Watch my backside!"

She smiled, and lifted up a sword and a shield, and ambled forward. "With pleasure."

Diana rushed the zombie warriors, and she realized at once that didn't feel any pain. She dodged their attacks, they might have had weapons that had been dropped in the melee, but using them to any kind of success was another matter entirely.

The sword of one of the zombies clung with hers, and Diana kicked him in the midsection and dodged the attack.

Two of the zombies took each other out, and Diana took out a third on the backswing and knocked one out of the park. The Amazon Princess whipped her lasso forward and wrapped it around the waist of the zombie. With another swift motion she pulled it into huge clothesline.

She launched herself underneath the outstretched arms of the attacker. She pounded away at her attacker, and nailed him with a series of rapid fire punches and doubled him over. The woman pushed him down onto the ground.

"Almost there."

"Don't worry, I've got this," Diana said, she felt herself worked out. She just wished these warriors were a bit stronger to be honest. The Amazon Princess shook her head and dodged the swing. She caught a second one, turned around, and jabbed the weapon into the chest of her enemy.

Harry turned his attention away from the sounds of fighting that occurred over his shoulder, he thought that it was all in good hands.

And he clicked into it, and hooked the Sphinx into his suit. The streets were cleared, which allowed him to roll it back.

He saw an entrance underneath the Sphinx, and he smiled.

'_You can go home again,' _Harry thought, and he nailed the last goon in the back of the head and Diana added a little curb stomp to the back of his head with a grin on her face.

"So, that was fun, but we got to keep moving."

Harry allowed Diana to do the honors and she pulled the cover off of the ground. She dropped down and he dropped down right next to her.

"So, this is one of the abandoned tunnels from when the city is first bit," Diana said, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, McElroy figured that one of them leads to the university…"

"WAIT, THE UNIVERSITY?" Diana asked, and she realized what happened. She could have lifted up her hand and palmed her face until it was red. "You mean that we were close to him the entire time."

Harry sensed Diana's distress and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close.

"No, not the original Met-U, but rather an old abandoned part of the building that was cleaned out last year to be redone, but they never got around to it."

Harry saw a pair of gates that had been locked, and he heard something come down the tunnel.

"So, you better be ready to fight again."

Diana's face fixed with determination and there was no words based on what she found out.

'_My sister likes her work, you got to give her that much,' _Donna thought, and she grinned when she walked it. _'Oh and Sandsmark's daughter, I've got her, and I'm going to try and keep her from freaking out.'_

'_Good, thank you Donna, I owe you big time,' _Harry thought.

The Amazon Princess responded with a bright grin to her husband and she watched him break open the gate and allow himself entrance to Tut's inner chambers. _'You know, I'm going to hold you to that in due time.'_

'_I know honey, and I know that you'll cash on it, with interest,' _Harry thought and he walked inside.

He saw two more guards waiting near the door, and Diana was on his backside. Both locked eyes and agreed.

Harry would take the one to the right and Diana would take the run to the left. They both rushed in.

Diana slammed into the guard with a kick to the back of the head and slammed him into the wall. The second guard turned to see Diana, which was the point.

That allowed Harry to shock him from behind and cause him to slump down onto the ground. His arms and legs started to twitch with each other.

* * *

Helena Sandsmark wondered how she got into the situation that she did. Her struggles and please to be let out fell onto deaf ears. She strained her neck and looked up at Professor McElroy, who paced back and forth. He got even more panic with each pace that he did and that caused her to be a little bit terrified to be honest. She had gone down into temples with traps in them that had not been half as scary as the horror show that she saw.

"Now, now, I've got the Queen but…..closer, they're getting closer," Tut whispered and he looked up to the staff and stared at it. He muttered underneath his breath and rocked back and forth. "Yes, yes, yes, I know, she looks…..but she'll learn to like it, trust me, trust me. Oh yes, honey, I know."

Helena opened her mouth and closed it, she was too terrified to speak at the moment. Tut had a love affair with that staff. The same staff that was believed to be cursed and caused anyone who used it to be driven mad.

"Professor, Professor…."

Tut's eyes flipped around and glared upon Doctor Sandsmark's face and a snarl appeared on his face. "Your majesty will do nicely for me…."

"Well whatever you want to call yourself, you're gone completely and utterly out of your mind," Helena said and Tut stepped towards her. She could see how mad he's gone and his eyes flashed angrily. "Professor, listen, you're a great man….."

"Oh, well thank you, but that little milktoast McElroy, he didn't really get much done. I, on the other hand, am getting a lot done. Metropolis will be my new Thebes, and…..I can see it in your eyes. You're interested, even a little bit excited to see what I have."

Tut's pacing got even more intense and Helena blanched again.

'_Insane, completely insane…..'_

"You're going to be my queen," Tut said and he leaned forward and cupped her chin in her hand. He pushed her eyes up and Tut eyed her. "And you're going to enjoy that, you're going to get on your knees before me, and worship me, worship your king. Do you understand it, my dear? Do you understand what's going on here?"

Tut cleared his throat and looked at her.

"I don't know…"

"Ah, I can see that you're in awe over me, so I'll tell you what's been going on," Tut whispered and he leaned towards her and whispered harshly in her ear. "The world's gone soft and people don't respect the authority over them, their leaders. They refuse to give them the proper amount of respect. Some paid me, but others don't…."

Helena blinked suddenly and he descended into babbling.

Not only did he descend into babbling, but he started talking to the staff once again.

"I'm sorry I was so angry with you earlier, it's just that Arcane, he's…..there's room for only one Alpha Male in this city," Tut whispered and he clutched the staff tightly. "I will never let you go, there's room for the three of us, for the three of us…."

Tut heard a sound of something crashing from the other room. He coughed madly and cleared his throat.

"Don't worry my dear, I'll be back. And then we can prepare for our wedding."

Doctor Helena Sandsmark wanted to throw up in her mouth just a little bit. Tut waddled off to see the source of the disturbance.

Arcane appeared right next to her and the woman's eyes widened when she saw the young man appear next to her.

"Just hang on tight, and I'll get you out of here…"

"Forget it, you're not taking her anywhere!"

Tut rumbled into the room and stared down Harry. His eyes stared down at him.

"So, you're Arcane, the usurper, the one who has caused treason to my throne!" Tut yelled and he waved his staff around. "You know, I'm going to wipe you out and take you down and you will bow before the might of me, you will bow before the might of TUT!"

Tut screamed out loud and rushed him with the staff. Harry jumped over the top of him and spun around. He planted his foot into the gut of Tut, and pulled the staff out of his hand.

"Come to me, my precious!" Tut yelled, and the staff lifted out of Harry's hand and came back into Tut's hand. "HA! That shows my power or…."

"It shows the fact that the staff wants to eat your soul."

Wonder Woman jumped into the battle, but Tut waved the staff in front of her. She dodged the attack. The energy blast blew a hole through the ground from which she once stood.

"We have to break his power with the staff somehow," Harry said, and he could see the energy pulsing from the staff in an indiscrimate manner. He dodged a blast of energy from the staff, and it blew up one of the exhibits that were stored down.

"Stand still you little weasel!" Tut yelled and he swung the staff towards him.

Harry raised his hands and blasted him. The staff formed a shield around Tut and his eyes glowed. He levitated off of the ground.

"Behold, your majesty!" Tut yelled, and Harry shook his head, he did a duck and roll, and shattered the floor beneath Tut.

Tut fell down beneath the basement area all the way to the sewers below.

Harry wiped the sweat from his face, he wished that this was the end, but he heard some sadistic laughter.

"Take Doctor Sandsmark, and get out of here, I'll handle the boy king," Harry said, and he looked towards Diana.

"Are you sure?" Diana asked and Harry smiled at her.

"Positive," Harry said, and Diana freed Helena from her restraints. She happened the shaken woman up to her feet. She was shell shocked and for good reason. "Go, I need to break the power of the staff, and it's going to be an ugly one I have a feeling."

"Got you," Diana said and she leaned in towards Harry and wrapped her arms around her.

It was a surprisingly, but quite welcomed action. Their lips connected with each other in a passionate display, that caused Doctor Sandsmark to stop and stare at them.

"Are you sure this was the time?" Harry asked her and Diana gave him a prominent smile and she looked at him.

"Seize the moment," Diana said and Harry responded with a nod in response, he couldn't really debate that all that much.

Diana scooped up Helena and the two of them left the area and just in time as well.

* * *

Harry felt a villainous breakdown coming, not that Tut didn't have too far to go before he reached a level of insanity that many could never turn back from.

Nostrils flaring, eyes bulging, heavy breathing, yes he was completely and totally out of his mind and getting closer to snapping.

"YOU, YOU, YOU RUINED IT ALL!"

Tut rose up, surrounded by fire, some of it he practically spat at Harry. He waved his staff and he looked like a demonic creature, as opposed to a portly professor cosplaying as an Egyptian. The so called king stepped towards him and continued to walk towards him. Sighing, Harry lifted his hand up in the air and blocked the attack. The fire blast connected with the stone cold shield, and Harry slammed his fist back against him.

"I'll show you, you'll see, you will bow before royalty!" Tut yelled, he strained to breath, but he worked off of pure power.

Harry blasted him with his full power. Which caused his nerve endings to shoot on fire, but desperate times called for desperate actions and things were completely desperate.

"NO!" Tut yelled and the staff vibrated in his hand. He lost control of it. "Please, please, please, stay with me, you know….."

"Magical artifacts are a bitch sometimes, aren't they?" Arcane asked and he threw his hand back. He gained enough momentum and punched Tut into the wall.

The staff rattled on the ground, and Tut threw himself at the weapon. His hands burned underneath the power of the staff.

"You don't get it, it's like a hit that you can't really shake, isn't it?" Harry asked and he kicked the staff from Tut's hand. He gritted down on his teeth in frustrated. "You keep wanting to use the staff on me, but it's not working well for you."

Tut's ranting was beyond all comprehension. "No, no, no, it wants me, it loves me, it just doesn't know how to show it!"

Harry thought that this entire mess would be kind of funny, if it wasn't so sad. He looked at it, like it was a train wreck waiting to happen. The man went from hot to cold, from blubbering sadness to extreme anger at the speed of light.

The power of the staff fueled his psychosis and Harry knew that if he could break the power, he could end this right now.

'_The zombies are disappearing, just like that,' _Kara thought.

Harry thought that was music to his ears. _'Good, that means Tut is losing control, but someone like that who lost control, he still is losing his mind fairly obviously.'_

Tut slammed his hands on the ground and got up to his feet with wobbling legs. He waved the staff and tried to blast Harry at it.

Harry ricocheted the blast back at Tut and it nailed him full on the chest. He lifted up off of the ground and flew across the room. Tut went to a stop and slammed down against the ground. Everyone could have cringed with the sound of every single bone of his body being broken, being harmed by his own precious.

"Seems like you got screwed over by your precious," Harry said, and he ripped the staff from Tut's hand.

He gave a blood curdling scream of agony when his power completely broke with the staff.

"NO, NO, GIVE IT BACK, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT!"

A little unforeseen circumstance was McElroy's body bursting into flames, the bio energy the staff consumed caught him off guard and it caused his body to twist into a heaping pile of ash and nothing else.

Then the imperial balance began to collapse around Harry's head. That was a moderate little inconvenience, but one that Harry had to expect.

Wonder Woman swooped in, and pulled Harry out of harm's way. Harry was glad for the rescue, especially given the fact that the entire place was about ready to come down onto the back of the head. That being said, he couldn't let one fact about what happened pass without any comment.

"You do realized that I could have flown out of here," Harry said and Diana smiled when she lifted Harry and the staff, which now grew oddly cold and lifeless, out of the rubble that smashed down to the ground.

There was a giant burning hole in the center of Metropolis, and Harry shivered when he felt the damage left behind thanks to that staff.

The ending really was extremely explosive and the only thing that was left over from what proved to be an insane and mind gripping adventure.

"So, he's dead, dead for sure?" Diana asked when she finally returned back to some sense of reality and Harry turned towards her and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yes he's dead, in the sense that his body has been destroyed," Harry said, and he made sure to keep the staff in his hand. The last thing he wanted to do was for this thing to ruin someone else. Given his instincts, Harry was certain that it ruined the lives of more than a few people.

He was extremely curious where it came from, because it didn't seem to be of Earthly origin. That was something else that he would have to study when the time came right, right now it was time for him to go home.

* * *

Doctor Helena Sandsmark returned home and an intense sigh escaped her lips. She spent some time speaking briefly with the MCU. Many students and teachers underneath Professor McElroy's thrall returned back to normal. They might need some consoling for their ordeal but they would be as okay as they would be normally.

And as for Professor McElroy himself that was a good question as to what happened to him. Helena had some theories herself that she didn't want to shove underneath the rug just yet. One idea that she had was that the staff engulfed him with so much power that it caused him to explode just like that.

It was a nasty end and Doctor Sandsmark felt sorry for the guy, but she really held the people who decided that it was a good idea to give him a job responsible. The good thing was that other than this one incident, he was normal ever since his therapy after the incident after the death of his wife. The bad thing was that one little accident pushed him over the edge.

The exposure to the staff didn't work, never the less, she made her way to the door and knocked on it. She was sure that her daughter was worried sick, especially after how Helena left her over the phone.

A dark haired girl that looked familiar answered the door. Helena thought at first that it was Diana, but she looked a little bit shorter.

"Doctor Sandsmark, Diana called me and let you know that you were coming home after the MCU talked to you," the girl said and she reached forward to shake Doctor Sandsmark's hand in an excited manner. "I'm Donna, Diana's sister…..and I've been here to keep an eye on your daughter to make sure….well….."

Helena smiled in response and looked at Donna. "To make sure that my daughter doesn't do anything that she might end up regretting later like going to play the hero."

Donna laughed, that was at least Harry's exact words, or close enough.

"I'm going to have to thank you and your sister, and Harry as well for all you've done tonight," Helena said and Donna looked at her. She leaned in closer to the young Amazon Princess and whispered in her ear. "Yes, I know, but don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

Donna relaxed a little bit, she should have figured it out.

'_Well, she is a smart woman, so obviously she did,' _Harry said and Donna smiled.

"MOM!"

Cassie bounded down the hallway. The blonde wore a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans, and she had a sheepish grin on her face.

"Donna said that she was going to tie me up if I didn't behave," Cassie said and she pulled a face.

"Well, you should have known that you can't go out like that…"

Cassie folded her arms. "Come on, Wonder Woman doesn't get lectured like this by her mother."

'_Actually she does,' _Donna thought, but she didn't want to spill the beans to the young girl, she might burst in overexcitement. _'Speaking of which, I was honestly surprised my sister wasn't on the bond yet.'_

'_Good things come to those who wait,' _Harry said and he returned back to the lab to take a look at the staff, with Helena and Karen joining him. _'Thanks Donna, I appreciate that, and I do owe you.'_

'_Well, I'll cash in later, but not tonight, she wore me out,' _Donna said.

Kara jumped in with a few amused words of her own. _'I don't know how a ten year old can wear you out, you must be slacking…..'_

'_You watch her next time, and you'll see, Supergirl,' _Donna thought and she smiled. _'I wonder if this is some kind of demented and twisted form of karma from when I was that age.'_

That being said, Donna turned to Doctor Sandsmark. "I can stick around if you want me to….to make sure that everything's okay for the night."

Doctor Sandsmark was about to tell her it was okay, but then she stopped when she realized something. Shaking her head, she smiled. "You know, it really wouldn't be the worst idea to have a super powered bodyguard spend the night here and keep me in trouble."

She said this low enough to where her daughter did not hear this, because Helena thought that she might burst with excitement if she knew that there was a real life superhero.

"Mom, they said that on the news that you got saved by Wonder Woman and that shadow guy…I don't remember what his name is…"

"Arcane," Donna said and Cassie bubbled in excitement. Donna shook her head.

'_She'll be one to watch in a few years,' _Kara said with a wicked smile.

'_Hey, I saw her first,' _Donna said, shaking her head.

"Was the Blur there too?" Cassie asked and her mother turned towards her.

"Cassie, it's getting late, and you should go to bed, it is a school night after all….."

"But Mom!"

Helena's stern gaze focused on her daughter and she closed her eyes.

"Fine, and oh, and I so beat Donna's butt in Go Fish," Cassie said with a smirk on her face.

Donna placed her hands on her hips and glared back at Cassie. "I so let you win."

She scoffed in response. "Sure, that's what the adults always say."

One final "Mom Look" from Helena Sandsmark caused Cassie to bolt up the stairs, pretty fast, although she had questions about what happened to her mother.

"Sorry about my daughter."

"I think that I'm getting a bit of an interesting perspective about how Diana thought of me when I was that age," Donna said and she settled down in the living room. "I'm sure Harry and Diana will be by tomorrow to check in on you but…"

"I think that I need a good hot meal, a nice long shower, and a good night's sleep," Helena told her. "So, do you cook?"

"Depends, do you like your kitchen?" Donna asked casually.

Helena laughed and she got the message loud and clear. With a long sigh that escaped her mouth she inclined her head and murmured underneath her breath. "I guess that we're going for takeout."

"Smart choice," Donna said, not that she minded.

* * *

Harry bent over the staff and it was hard to believe that something that caused so much trouble and misery a short time ago grew completely cold and lifeless underneath his touch. His green eyes fixated on what rested in front of him.

He frowned, pretty sure that he had a good idea what was going on, or maybe. There was something outwardly about this staff, but there had been nothing other than rumors and urban legends. Both could serve to be an interesting story.

Harry wanted more than interesting stories, he wanted the facts and nothing but the facts.

Karen stood herself at his shoulder and placed her hands on the top of his shoulders and smiled. "You know, I don't think that it's going to come to you."

Harry agreed with her. That being said, that didn't stop him from trying to obsess over that staff and where it came from.

He stopped and realized what he was doing.

"You see what it's doing to you, although in a more subdue way, don't you?" Karen asked and she spun Harry around in the chair so he could face her and Helena.

Harry nodded, he had to admit that staff was extremely tricky with the damage that it caused. He would never guessed what it was capable of because it's unassuming look. Without the knowledge that it was capable of some really rotten things.

"The staff causes a person's obsession with it's capabilities to increase, and then absorbs the life force that was in a person," Harry said, and he sighed. "And even the strong willed might be able to get a taste of it."

Harry picked up the staff and rapped it twice on the table. He looked at it appraisingly and carefully got up. He walked it all the way across the room towards the nearest vault.

He shuddered, thinking of the possibilities that the staff could bring, even to a mind that he assumed was well organized and his mind was well organized.

He slid the staff into a top security vault. It blocked any magical energy signatures. Besides he got enough of the data off of the staff so he could plug it into a computer and allow it to work its magic.

"Long day?" Lana asked when she showed up after a second.

Harry swept her into a nice and long hug, and leaned forward. Their lips met in a kiss, and their hands briefly explored each other's bodies.

"As much as I'd like to continue this, I think that there's someone else who wants this even more," Lana said, and she played with Harry's hair briefly. When she was done doing that, she added. "Diana is downstairs in the conference room, she wants to talk to you….."

"That's a lady that I don't think that we should keep waiting," Harry said and he made his way over to the elevator, taking a moment in turn to say goodbye to Helena and Diana.

The journey was short all things considered, he was down in the conference room with moments to spare.

Diana waited for him and she wore a tight white top and a pair of jean shorts. She kicked off her shoes and Harry saw her sophisticated arches, along with her beautiful toes right before him.

"Hi, Harry," Diana said and she offered Harry a chair.

"I should be offering you a chair after all that happened," Harry said and he sat down in front of Diana.

Diana grinned despite herself. "Well I'm sure that there are going to be a few more challenges…..today was quite the day."

"Donna tells me that Helena Sandsmark is doing fine all things considered," Harry informed Diana and Diana smiled, when she rested one of her feet close to Harry's inner thigh.

"That's good, I really hoped that nothing bad would happen to her," Diana said and Harry smiled, with her leg shifting really close to him.

Harry closed his eyes and felt her ease a little bit closer to him, but if this was the game she wanted to play, then so be it.

"We've ran into each other a few times, and I think that it's time to take things to the next level," Diana said and she brushed her foot against the crotch of his pants. Harry caught her foot and started to run his thumb down the bottom her sole. That caused Diana to shiver, but she remained stern and fixated. "I want you, Harry, and I know that there isn't anyone else man or woman who could quite match up with you….."

Diana took her other foot and started to run it down the inner part of Harry's thighs.

"Besides, I can feel my body call out for you, the fact that you're a strong Alpha, and I need someone as strong as you in my life," Diana whispered to him and her hair hung alluringly down from her hair.

She used her big toe to slowly remove Harry's pants and pull the zipper down to expose a little bit more of him. The Amazon Princess smiled when she felt Harry become undone a little bit more at each time. She brimmed with excitement with what was about to happen next.

Harry grew in his pants and he held Diana's feet.

"Perfect," Harry said and he smiled when she pushed his pants down with her feet, showing great skill and determination.

"I know, I know that you think that I am and thank you," Diana answered for him and she slowly prepared to go in for the kill.

She knew that during this trip to Man's World she would have Harry in the palm of her hand and bonded with him. And now it was time to go in for some long overdue fun.

* * *

**To Be Continued On October 21****th**** 2014. **

**Wrapping this up arc with a bang. And Tut really hoisted himself up and hung himself out to dry on that one. **

**We see a bit of interaction between the two Wondergirls, more of that down the line, especially when Cassie gets older. **

**Diana and Harry I'm sure many people were waiting for. **


	28. Not So Lazy, Lazy Day

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Not So Lazy, Lazy Day. **

* * *

Harry didn't think that he was going to ever forget that last adventure any time soon and he meant that. Neither would the city that experienced it. Metropolis still recovered from it in the days that were to come much later. It was going to be an extremely long and bittering harsh road to recovery when it was all said and done.

"Oh come on, I almost got it done!"

Alexandra tried to transfigure a pot into a pillow, but the problem was that she couldn't quite get the shape right.

Transfiguration was not one of Harry's favorite branches of magic, at least on a conceptual level. There was a lot of the class that was useless until they got to the interesting stuff. The problem was that a lot of people complicated the easy stuff, so it was hard for anyone to accomplish anything. Therefore, the interesting stuff was something that was delayed.

That being said, transfiguration had other uses, other the obvious transfiguration of objects. It allowed a person mental focus to do other forms of magic. Some might argue that it could be useful in combat granted, but Harry thought that by the time that a bit of transfiguration was done, you'd achieve far more satisfying results when you punched a guy in the face.

That was just Harry thought.

"Come on, this is…" Alex said and she curled her fists up, when she tried the exercise. She got so close that she could feel it.

Harry raised an eyebrow and lean in close to her. "You know, you should take a deep breath, because you're not going to accomplish anything magic wise if you ever freak out."

Alex curled her arms up over her chest and gave a scowl.

'_That's precious,' _Donna thought.

Diana, enjoying her newly acquired bond privileges, jumped in the conversation. _'You know, you're equally as upset when you can't accomplish something like that.'_

Donna folded her arms. It was nice having some privacy from her sister while it lasted. Not that she complained about it, because it was only inevitable that she joined the group wit Harry.

"Okay, you need to really take a deep breath," Harry said and he placed his hand on Alex's shoulder. The girl blinked suddenly and nodded. "Magic is a tricky thing, you can manipulate it, or it can manipulate you. The choice is really yours."

Alex scowled deeper if that was even possible. Magic did a wonderful job in manipulating her something fierce.

"Okay, focus on the end result you want, and block out any obstacles," Harry said, and he waved his hand to demonstrate to his younger self how to do this.

"You make it look so easy," Alex said, but she shook her head. "Okay focus on the end result, and block out any obstacles."

Alex screwed her eyes shut in deep concentration, and Harry patted her on the shoulder. She felt that she would get it eventually.

Harry afforded the best magical tutors that money could buy. There were bits of magic that would be a stumbling block for anyone. Books and tutors could only get a person so far, before they stumbled and bumbled. Alex struck one of these stumbling blocks head on.

The most interesting thing for Harry was that she almost tripped over something that shouldn't trip her up. He was pretty sure when she figured it out, it would be off and ready at the races.

"I think that I got it," Alex said, and she paused when she looked at the pillow that was once a pot. She tapped on it, it was still kind of hard and jagged. "Okay, at least I got the shape right."

Harry leaned in to give her some advice. "The shape is the first aspect, but it's just an illusion if you only get the shape. A partial transfiguration I guess that would be the best way to go about it."

Alex nodded and soaked up the knowledge. The pot was out in front of her. She bit on her lip, trying to do so again.

"Sorry I'm late."

Harry turned around and saw a dark haired woman standing in the doorway. She wore a black shirt, jeans, and had an extremely fit body all the way around. She walked forward towards Harry with a smile on her face.

"No, Zee, you're actually a bit early, we just wanted to get a jump start on the lessons."

Zatanna Zatara smiled at him. "Oh…..well I suppose that's a good idea. I think my father would have had a heart attack if I ever got a jump start on my lessons. Then again, I would had to get up pretty early to be him for starting."

Harry laughed and the woman smiled at him.

"So, I think that you can go right now, I'll take it from here," Zatanna said to him and she added hastily. "Not that I want to get rid of you or anything, it's just that…."

Her words got lost. Harry closed in the gap between the two of them.

"Trust me, I know and I understand," Harry said with a smile towards her and he stepped a bit closer towards her. "If you need anything, you know how to find me."

"I do," Zatanna said a bit boldly, and she decided to jump on the opportunity while the iron was hot. "Actually I have something to tell you, privately, away from Alex."

Harry considered that fact a little bit, and then he moved to lean in towards his cousin. "Keep practicing."

With those words, Zatanna and Harry left the room and the dark haired magical user looked rather nervous.

Harry could tell that she was nervous. He was a patient man. He had to be because otherwise he would have been driven mad a long time ago.

"So, I was wondering, if you're not busy or something…" Zatanna started and she looked at him with a smile on her face. "Do you want to go and get something to eat?"

Harry smiled, he wondered when this was coming. He looked forward to meeting his daughter's mentor better.

"I do owe you a dinner from all the help that you've done."

Zatanna shook her head. "All of what you're paying me is more than enough, it's too much in fact…"

"Standard magical tutor fees believe it or not," Harry responded to her and Zatanna believed it. She settled a hand on her hip. "I know, they might seem overpaid, but I think that you're worth it."

Zatanna couldn't help herself after that, she grinned. Leaning in close to Harry, she whispered in his ear.

"Don't worry, I'm glad that you think that I'm worth it," the woman answered and she pulled back just in time to look in Harry's dazzling green eyes. They were something that knocked the socks off most women who had taken a look at them. It was really hard for her to keep her inhibitions in check. "So, are you are…."

"Let me know what's good for you," Harry said and Zatanna smiled.

"Anytime is good for me, but I know that you're busy, with everything that's been happening," Zatanna told him and Harry smiled.

"Very busy," Harry agreed with her and the two of them stared each other down for a few seconds.

"I GOT IT!"

That little moment was broken up and Zatanna managed to come to her senses. "Well, I'll see you later…"

"I better get going," Harry said and he grabbed her hand and placed his lips onto it.

Zatanna really wished for more, but she supposed that could have waited until later. She had a bit of a crush on Harry ever since that he hired her for that job, but she wrestled with herself. It might be considered to be a bit unprofessional.

Her head shook in frustration, screw being unprofessional, she wanted to do what she wanted for once in her life.

She did have a job to do and she returned to see what Alex did. Amusement filled her eyes when the girl looked impatient at not having her accomplishment properly acknowledged.

* * *

Donna and Diana walked around in the Potter Estate, well one of them anyway. The younger Amazon princess just got back after leaving the Sandsmark residence. She needed a vacation, especially when she let it slip to Cassie that she was Wonder Woman's sister.

That was the worst mistake Donna ever did in her life and that was saying a lot. That being said, she couldn't focus on that, rather she needed to focus on giving her sister a tour of the mansion.

"Have you ever been here?" Donna asked, and Diana smiled and answered in affirmation.

"Once," Diana admitted and Donna turned to her sister and placed her hands upon her hips before she asked the obvious question.

"And how were you not on the bond before me?"

Diana waved her hand. "That was all on me, I wanted to make sure everything was okay. But the problem was facing my mother and to a lesser extent the goddesses, you know how they are about giving permission, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Donna answered shaking her head and smiling at her older sister. "But, you know, they were okay with the Harry thing…"

"That surprised me, I don't want to even know what my mother said to them," Diana said, and that was something she envisioned. Hippolyta implied what she said, but implying something and saying something were two different things entirely. "My mother hasn't had the best luck with men before…well you've heard the stories."

"Many of them were from I'm born, so I don't know how true that they are…."

"Well, let's just say that Harry was the first man who came to the island and didn't immediately enslave all of the Amazons or try to at least," Diana replied darkly. Donna whistled delicately. "It isn't the fault of men in general, it's just the ones who have a reason to seek us out normally…"

"Have less than savory intentions, I know."

Donna again heard the stories, but she added with a saucy grin.

"With Harry, I don't think that there's no trickery needed."

"Yes, some of them looked willing to throw themselves at Harry, consequences be damned," Diana said and they walked down the long and winding hallway. Harry would join them a moment later. "Of course, we got there first, so they're just going to deal with that, aren't they?"

Donna cleared her throat in response. "I believe that I was the one that got there first."

"Don't split hairs Donna," Diana said firmly to her sister, and Donna shook her head.

"Okay fine, we were discussing my mother and the bad luck that she had with men…."

"Yes, we were," Diana said and she gave her sister a calculating smile. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Donna laughed with an amused grin on her face. "You know, I was just thinking the same thing, that we should get our mother laid and laid hard by a real young stud. And we just happen to have one available."

Diana frowned, not exactly the verbiage she was going for, but she took it all the same. She did foresee a problem which she relayed to Donna.

"You know how mother is, she'll see any kind of ruse to manipulate her into Harry's bed coming a mile away," Diana warned Donna.

Donna's shoulders popped up into a nice little shrug. "Hey, give me some credit, you know that there's no manipulation at all needed, especially with a handsome young man like Harry."

Diana sighed, she wondered what exactly her sister was planning, but at the same time, she kind of was terrifying. Donna was not known for her tact.

"So, it was as great as you imagined it," Donna said.

She caught Diana off guard with this jarring change of tracts. That being said, she nodded with a grin on her face. "It was like a dream come true."

"It was pretty hot," Donna shtrrf and Diana raised her eyebrow. "And you know it's every guy's fantasy to have a mother and her two daughters at the same time. And considering our mother needs a big injection of Vitamin D….."

"Donna!" Diana yelled, sounding scandalized.

"Sorry, Kara taught me that one," Donna said and she looked sheepish.

The girl in question bounced onto the network to defend herself. _'Oh sure, blame me for your deviance, Donna Troy. Diana, I'd highly recommend spanking her for that one.'_

'_I'd pay to see that,' _Karen inputted.

'_You know, don't say that I haven't thought about it,' _Diana said.

Donna got all huffy about the suggestion. She couldn't really say anything, the door popped open.

Harry walked inside, he was going to meet with the two sisters to see how Diana came along in finding her new room at the Manor. What he found was both girls hunched together and discussing something with each other.

They intensely plotted something, which Harry corked an eyebrow at. That rarely turned out to be favorable for anyone, any kind of intense plotting.

"And what are you two ladies up to now?" Harry asked and both girls spun around to face Harry.

Donna thought about a million good excuses that she could give Harry with what they were up to, but sure enough she found none.

She decided to do the thing that was most obvious. The Amazon Princess leaned forward and pushed Harry against the wall. Her legs snaked around his waist with one fluid motion, and she pushed her lips onto him.

That wasn't the answer that Harry wanted, but that was the answer that he would take. Donna's tongue pushed deep into his mouth and he returned fire.

His hands roamed underneath her top and she squealed into his mouth.

Diana smiled, her eyebrow raised at this sudden intrusion by her sister into Harry's mouth, but she shrugged her shoulders.

'_When in Rome….'_

* * *

"So, I've studied some of the readings from the staff that you've found," Karen replied.

In response to these words, Harry turned towards her, half of an eyebrow raised and he wondered what she had to say about it.

There were a multitude of projects that they had on the table right now. The cave that they found in Smallville was one, the origins of the staff were the other, and exactly when, not where but when, was Patricia Swann. So needless to say, they had a lot of their work cut out for them in the not so distant future.

That being said, Harry was intrigued with what Karen uncovered, if she uncovered anything at all.

"And…"

"That's just it, I'm studying the staff, but for the most part, it's a work in progress," Karen said and she placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Helena and I are still working on the other project…..you know which one."

Harry smiled, he knew what one, and he knew why this bothered Helena and Karen in such a way. The two of them could not find their lost friend, and hell it bothered Harry. She was right behind him, likely less than a second margin of error.

Then again, sometimes that was just all that it took for something to happen. As much as Harry hated to admit it, that was the case, plain and simple, bottom line, no question about it.

"So…?"

"No luck yet, if you must know," Karen said and there was a thinly veiled sigh that escaped from her lips. She thought that every time she came closer to something, the rug got pulled out from underneath her.

Then almost as if on cue, something occurred that caught their collective attention again, and Harry leaned in to see what was going on. A frown appeared on his face.

"Another detected Cosmic radiation?" Harry asked.

"This one was the strongest one yet," Karen said and she punched up the most likely coordinates where it would originate. "I think this might actually tie into our other problem."

Helena decided to inject her own level of optimism into the situation. "Well, it's likely to be that way, isn't it?"

There was something about her tone that Harry figured was off, but he couldn't really place it off hand. Then he realized that she wanted to get no one's hopes up, especially her own. Harry leaned in and placed his arm around her shoulder and smiled.

"We'll see what it's all about, it could be something big happening," Harry said and to be honest, right now, they were kind of at a little bit of a lull. There was a sense that the calm existed right before the storm

Karen sighed, she hated to agree with her husband, especially when he was right.

"So, what's the latest on the gang war in Gotham City?" Karen asked, she decided to deflect subjects into something else.

Helena answered and this was an answer that surprised all of them. "Amazingly, it's all been quiet."

"Really?" Harry asked her and Helena nodded in agreement.

'_It's more of a cold war right now, where all sides are arming each other,' _Barbara thought, and she didn't tap into the computers of all sides. Of course some of the criminal outfits were so old school, they didn't make the transition all that well into the computer age. _'The same is mostly true in Metropolis, although Intergang always rears its ugly head.'_

'_The problem is I think that it's broken into so many factions, it's hard to really get a fix on any of them,' _Lana thought, and she shook her head in response. She finally got used to the bond traffic, at least where she got comfortable enough to be able to hop onto the call and interact with her fellow sister-wives. _'You know, Morgan Edge is running the things, he aspires to be the next Lionel Luthor.'_

'_Extremely scary thought is scary,' _Karen thought, the real Luthors were bad enough, they didn't need wannabes out there.

To be fair, the elder Luthor played a far more cerebral game than his son did in her world. At least he was less antagonist and seemed to regard any capes with amusement at best.

Then again, all he did was some extremely shady business practices, not something that was in their jurisdiction to bust down the door about. They worked on building their business.

'_So, are we still on?' _Kara asked and she could barely hold her excitement back, because it reached a fever pitch.

She honestly was glad that she got some alone time with Harry. Not that she minded sharing him with the other girls, far from it. To have as many girls as possible was a sigh of strength, when many men could barely even handle one.

'_Don't worry Kara, we're still on, I wouldn't miss it for the world,' _Harry answered and his wife was on cloud nine.

'_Oh that's good,' _Kara said and she bounced up and down. An action that did some extremely wonderful and alluring things to her breasts when she bounced up and down casually and calmly.

'_I think she's excited,' _Karen chimed in and everyone laughed at her utterly blasé, but entirely accurate statement.

Harry decided to take one more look at the data from the cosmic powered radiation that pumped in and then he was off to be on an extremely important date.

* * *

Kara wore a red shirt along with a flowing blue mini-skirt that extended down past her knees, when she walked out from the movie theater with Harry. The blonde smiled at the look on Harry's face. She knew what he was thinking.

"Okay, the movie was pretty tacky…."

"Alien invasion movies often are pretty tacky," Harry said and Kara shrugged, and laughed.

"Hollywood, they really have no idea what real aliens look like, do they? I mean most of them look pretty human to begin with, although our skin tone might be slightly different. But none of them look quite like that. Why does everything have to be so grey?"

"You know, why don't you ask Hollywood why they do the things that they do?" Harry asked and Kara smiled, when she snuggled into his arm. The blonde hovered halfway off of the ground and then stopped at Harry's look. "Besides it wasn't really the movie that mattered, it was the company that we had when we saw the movie."

Kara grinned, and rested her head down onto Harry's shoulder. That was so true.

A Metropolis sunset really was extremely beautiful; Kara felt her breath be taken completely away when she saw it. She shifted up against Harry when he held her tight towards her.

"Just basking in the moment that I'm sharing," Kara said, and Harry smiled. "I guess that seems like a line out of one of those tacky love movies or something."

Harry cupped her face and pulled her in close to him. Kara lazily rested in his hands and the two of them exchanged a kiss with each other. The blonde's eyes widened and she didn't care who knew it, she wanted to make sure the kiss was extremely heated.

Kara leaned into him, and Harry's hand slowly ran down her back. She closed her eyes. His firm hand caressed the bare flesh on her back and it caused a heat to rise between her legs.

Harry indulged himself in her for a brief time longer, his hand caressed the heated area between her legs and he pulled back up. He looked back up at her.

"Sometimes, the tackiest lines work, depending on the circumstances."

Kara didn't necessarily disagree with that, at least not completely. That being said, she wanted to fly to the nearest bed and take Harry right now.

Unfortunately, that would have to wait as her eagle eared hearing heard an alarm.

'_Ugh, why at all of the criminals in this city fucking cock-blocks?' _Kara asked and she grabbed onto the wall. She retracted her hand when she realized that she crushed it.

Karen raised her eyebrow and commented in the most casual voice that she could manage. _'You don't say?'_

Kara shook her head; she could hear a high amount of sympathy in her older sister's voice, along with a complete lack of sympathy as well. So to say that it was a paradox to be honest.

"Speaking of Intergang," Harry whispered, and they saw the armored thugs make their way into the bank.

Harry caught a brief glimpse of them through the window, and Kara stared through the window, using her X-Ray vision to see what was inside.

"Of course," Kara said and she could see that these were two of the same idiots that she beat up last week. Punch clock goons, not really worth more of her time, and they just robbed banks, likely to get funds from the Kingpin of Metropolis known as Morgan Edge.

Kara dove through the ground and decided to surprise them by one side.

Harry chuckled, amused at his wife's ability to jump head long into things. Once the chuckle faded from him, he faded into the distance.

"Alright, we got to get out of here…..this thing is so quick that it can out run the Blur," one of the goons said, but he didn't seem so confident.

"Well, if it can outrun the Blur, then why are we rushing?"

"Because, there's a chance that Ugly is full of shit, and this thing gets popped before we can get out of the vault," the member of Intergang said, when he piled the money into the back of their little transport vehicle.

"I don't know why the boss has us robbing banks, I mean…..isn't he worth millions?"

"You're an idiot who really needs to keep up with what's happening around you," one of the men grunted, and he slammed a drill down onto the ground. "You should know by now that the boss is worth billions…"

"And you know, you guys aren't really worth that much to him."

A blonde flash popped from underneath the ground and punched the nearest thug. She sent him careening into the wall.

"It's the Blur!" one of the thugs shouted, losing his head and he tripped over his fallen comrade. That did a wonderful job of knocking him out.

'_A real winner that one,' _Kara thought, and she smiled when she watched one of them yanked into the shadows and beaten down by Harry. She winced at the brutal beating that her husband laid on them.

One of the goons tried to nail her with the drill, but she dodged it. Turning around, she blistered him with a kick to the face.

"You know, these guys are kind of sad," Kara said, she almost felt sorry for them, except for the fact that she didn't feel sorry for them at all.

Harry tied them up and they struggled and spat and cursed at them.

"Yeah, I know, you're going to make me pay," Harry said and he stared down what appeared to be the leader of the pack. At least he was the one that looked the least dumb out of them. Perhaps one who had a few brain cells that worked together in a somewhat functioning way. Especially when compared to the other goons. "I've heard this before, over and over again, to the point of repetition. I really wish that you would get a new line, because it's getting extremely old."

Harry cupped the man roughly by the face and pushed it up so he could look in his eyes.

"I'm going to ask you once, but not again," Harry whispered in his ear. "Tell me what you're doing here, and what you know about the partnership between Morgan Edge and the Penguin?"

The goon stumbled and stammered over his words, but he knew that he might not wake up in a hospital; he might wake up in a morgue if he didn't choose his words extremely carefully.

* * *

"Okay, I've got a couple of ideas about the staff," Karen said and she smiled, before she brought one point to light for all of them to think about. "And it's as I suspected…"

"What did you expect?" Harry asked her.

Karen jumped in with some interesting news. "The staff, a part of at least, is made out of Nth metal. Not that much, maybe just a small bit of the handle, but that's extremely curious."

'_Given that how rare Nth metal is, it is,' _Kara answered. _'Thanagar…that's where the biggest pocket of it, isn't it?'_

'_The Thanagarians use it for their weapons, and they're…..well they're a spirited bunch,' _Karen thought and she laughed.

Helena responded in a dry manner. _'You mean that they're the type to shoot first, and ask questions only if they feel like it, don't you?'_

'_Exactly, although I think that most of them either died out or moved on to other parts of the universe,' _Kara explained to them. _'There were a lot of wars that happened, where a lot of alien races didn't make it. Krypton tried to isolate themselves from most of that, but we had our other problems. A civil war at home that caused the planet's core to become unstable. And we thought that we were safe on Argo…..'_

'_Has your cousin been ducking me?' _Harry asked after a second and that abrupt line of questioning caught Kara off guard.

'_You know, I don't know, mostly because I didn't ask,' _Kara delicately replied.

Harry let the subject go at that and then they went back to the staff. They didn't have it out obviously.

"And it's made of other components that are not known to this Earth," Karen added and Harry frowned, extremely thoughtful before he brought up a point that he wished to consider.

"What I want to know is what the Core is made out of?" Harry asked and both of the girls turned towards him. "An extremely powerful magical object is going to have a Core of some sort, the little sticks that the people back home have, have them."

"I don't suppose we could find that out short of busting the staff open," Karen suggested.

Harry scoffed. "Lots of luck with that, because I think that it has some extremely powerful magical enchantments."

"We should talk to Doctor Sandsmark," Helena said, and both her spouses turned towards her. "She was studying the staff. She could have some valuable information to help us."

"With Tut's spirit currently trapped inside the staff, she would be the only one that would be able to know which temple it got unearthed from in the first place," Harry answered and the two girls looked at him.

"I've got something to take care of so….."

'_Don't worry, Karen, Harry, and I can handle it,' _Diana thought, she wanted an opportunity to check in personally to see how Doctor Sandsmark was doing, so this was just as well.

'_Thank you, I appreciate that,' _Helena thought, she made the trips back and forth from Gotham City for a specialized purpose. Also, there were business reasons, if they ever wanted to establish an RAO base there.

Donna could not help, but be amused by something. In fact, she looked extremely amused and that caused Diana to be extremely confused.

'_What exactly are you laughing about?' _Diana asked.

Donna could barely keep the grin off of her face. _'Well one young Miss Sandsmark sees you, she's going to freak out….'_

'_I think that Doctor Sandsmark might be equally interested in seeing you,' _Harry added in response.

Diana blinked for a second and added with a smile. _'You know, I think that she might be equally interested in seeing you…'_

Karen and Harry left the office that they were using. No sooner did they take five steps out of the office, Diana waited for them.

"So are you ready?" Diana asked and Harry responded with one of those smiles."

"Let's do it."

* * *

Helena Sandsmark leaned back on the couch, bored out of her mind. She could have gone back to work. After she was kidnapped by one of her former colleagues, the university decided to give her time off. And paid double, likely because they didn't want a liability suit to come back and bite them in the ass.

Technically, it was their fault that Professor McElroy was exposed to the staff in the first place that knocked him back into his alter ego.

She heard her doorbell ring and she jumped off on seat. Helena nearly caused herself to take a tumble on the rug, but she avoided that embarrassing little pratful.

"Doctor Sandsmark?"

She realized that she tripped the moment and landed in the arms of Harry Potter. Which was an envious place to be, but Helena wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for some time, out of the embarrassment that happened.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked her and Helena cleared her throat and stood up to a standing position.

'_Smooth,' _Karen said, and she folded her arms underneath her chest and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Diana….it's good to see you again, and…"

"This is Karen, she's one of the founders of RAO along with me," Harry said.

Doctor Sandsmark leaned forward to shake Karen's hand to greet her. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Harry seemed to be rather closely pressed between both of the girls. Then again, her imagination ran wild at the thought of her being closely pressed between Harry and Diana.

That being said, she doubted that they visited her to be bombarded by the sexual fantasies of a sex starved single mother, so she vowed to remain professional as she could be.

"So, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you had any information about where the staff got unearthed from," Harry said to her.

Helena frowned. "You mean the staff that blew up with Professor McElroy, when we couldn't find it or his remains."

It was obvious that she knew Diana and Harry left with the staff, along with their costumed identities. She wasn't going to rat them out to the police. It was a lot safer in their extremely able hands anyway.

"Yes, that staff."

She had the material right there that she looked up, all of the records. She looked over it earlier.

"Here's a copy of everything that I have on it," she told them, and Harry smiled.

"Thank you, you're too kind, we appreciate it."

It was in the middle of a desolate part of Egypt, his favorite type of place to go all things considered. His sigh became extremely lengthy when he looked over the piece of paper he held in his hand.

"I'd ask the three of you in for lunch, but I'm sure that you're on a deadline," Helena said.

Harry smiled at her. "Another time, maybe?"

"Yes, maybe," she agreed, again she wanted not to come off as too desperate. After Cassie's father dumped and ran, without even a note, she was a bit gun shy about relationships. She did show interest in Harry.

"Mom, who were you talking to?"

Helena turned around and smiled at her daughter who perched herself on the center step of the stage. "Some visitors, you just missed them though."

It struck Cassie who they were and it disappointed her that she missed them.

"Why don't you wash up for lunch?"

Cassie was too disappointed at herself to do anything, but agree.

**To Be Continued On October 24****th****, 2014. **

* * *

**So bit of a transition chapter, although some quality character interaction exists here. **


	29. Ancient Answers Part One

**Chapter 29: Ancient Answers Part One. **

* * *

The deserts of Egypt were a hostile location for anyone. This was for many reasons. The most prominent reason that there were a few magical artifacts that the kings and queens of the long distant passed buried in the temples. Prime targets for tomb raiders and tomb robbers. Some of those tomb raiders and tomb robbers entered the desert. They never left the desert however.

Harry stepped off of the private jet that arrived first and he looked over his shoulder. Helena followed him next, her business in Gotham City concluded just in time for this trip. Then Karen followed close behind, and Diana. The four of them dressed for the desert weather, but they prepared for something else at a moment's notice.

"Now, keep on your toes, I know that I don't have to tell you, but at the same time, I feel like…."

"Don't worry, we know more than anyone else," Diana commented with her most firm tone of voice. After the episode with the staff, she wasn't really taking any chances. She was being extremely careful.

For an entire life time, she trained in the Amazon fighting style. Against some of the toughest women warriors on the island and if Diana could admit it, in those early years, she spent more time on her ass, then on her feet. Her mother was the prime person that caused her to take that position.

"So, Doctor Sandsmark said that the temple would be around here somewhere?" Helena asked and Harry nodded in confirmation.

"That's what she said," Harry said and Helena raised her eyebrow and nodded. "But…..you know there is a possibility that the temple could move itself."

It was the mark how much weird shit that all of them had been through that they didn't even bother to ask how a temple could move itself.

"Actually, it hasn't strayed much further than you would think," Karen said and she pointed at the entrance.

The entrance partially remained open and Harry wondered if someone beat them to the punch. That being said, there was only one way to find out and that was to take the plunge.

He dropped feet first down onto the ground, where he landed. The ground was fairly soft, not abrasive, not really.

"Okay, the rest of you can come down now, it's fine," Harry called back to them.

Helena was the next one who dropped her way down to the ground and she shook her head with a long sigh.

"He's right," Helena said and Karen and Diana dropped down a bit more gracefully then she did. She rummaged through her belt for a flashlight.

The torches on the walls magically lit up and illuminated the tunnel for them. Helena's lips curled into a grimace when she looked over her shoulder, and then back at the tunnel in front of her. "Does it help to say that I really don't like the looks of this?"

"You and I both," Harry replied and he placed his hand on her shoulders.

The further they walked down the tunnel, there was a lot more not to like the looks of at all. His green eyes viewed forward, and saw them lying on the ground.

"Oh, that's really….ugh," Karen groaned and she saw the skeletal remains of several tomb raiders on the ground.

Karen saw that a few people went down in the temple and they raised the ire of something down there or someone. She wasn't really completely sure exactly what.

"So, I'm guessing that we should touch nothing," Diana said and she saw Harry look over his shoulder and cast her one of those looks. "Yeah, I about figured as much."

Harry ran a scan on the markings of the walls. If Doctor Sandsmark was correct, the chamber that the staff had been found was closer. It was just a matter of unearthing it and finding what he needed to find.

It went without saying that Harry got the foreboding sense that they weren't supposed to be there and there was something deep within the temple that knew it. More bones, human bones, laid on the ground. That added to the grim atmosphere that was.

The glow that came further from the temple enticed all of them. The quartet stopped and stared and regained their bearings.

"There's something behind this door," Karen whispered and she paused and added the obvious statement. "Or someone."

No sooner did Karen say this something happened that caused them all to become a bit tenser. The doors swung open almost on their own accord and Helena remained rigid. She was ready to attack first and ask questions only when she felt like it.

"Not foreboding at all, isn't it?' Karen asked.

'_I feel like I should be playing some creepy music when you go down that tunnel,' _Barbara thought. She tried to look up more information about the temple, but she hit a road block. She slammed her hand on the desk angrily in her own frustration. _'In case you couldn't tell, that was me being disappointed about my failure about how I couldn't find a damn bit of information.'_

"Well we found something," Harry said, he wasn't sure if he should be excited by this or more suspicious about this.

He went down a fifty-fifty path towards this.

"We found something alright," Karen said and this grew baffling by each moment.

Harry recalled the facts in his mind. "And this vessel…..it appears to be some weird mixture or sorcery and alien technology and….."

An image painted on the wall of the chamber, of redhead female with green eyes who was surrounded by a cosmic entity. Said cosmic entity resembled the Phoenix and Harry looked over drawings. Best he could tell by putting context clues together was that it spoke of a great and terrifying power.

"That time of power…..beautiful but scary," Karen whispered and she vaguely remembered a legend.

She couldn't wrap her brain around what that legend was. Kara fortunately was able to jump in and tell her.

'_It resembles the Flamebird entity…only…it's different,' _Kara replied, her eyes transfixed along with the rest of them. She couldn't believe that she saw such a thing before her.

Helena's ears perked up, someone was coming. And down in a temple, someone coming was coming. It certainly wasn't going to be the welcome wagon.

Harry turned around, he expected zombie warriors or statues that come to life, or just something to attack him. He had bad luck with Ancient Runes. They always caused something to come to life to try and end his life.

That being said, it was neither. A woman appeared at the edge of the temple. Her red hair tied back in a ponytail and she wore a pair of sunglasses that perched on the tip of her nose, along with green eyes. She wore a long and bulky looking overcoat, which contrasted with the rest of her gear, a form fitting black half shirt, and a pair of tight black pants that fit against her body. She looked at them with a surprised look on her face, especially when she recognized one of them off hand.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked and she looked towards them.

"You know, I could have to ask the same about you," Karen said and the woman looked back at her.

'_Oh this is going to be when stubborn forces collide, isn't it?' _Kara asked and she could barely hold back her glee. If she was inclined to do so, she would have rubbed her hands together.

"We're investigating the temple, someone took a staff from here, and went on a murderous rampage due to it," Harry said, but he was intrigued by how absolutely casual she seemed by this news.

It was almost like she knew what happened.

"I know," she replied to him and looked determined when she looked at him. "I heard, but that's just the tip of the iceberg…I'm not sure how much I believe in curses. There's something in this temple that's caused most of anyone who has accessed any of the objects inside to go completely insane."

Harry just gave one of those looks. "And you're trying to figure out what…..and why?"

"I'm someone who is interested in unraveling the mysteries from the past," she commented when she stared down at Harry. "I'm Shayera Hall…..and I know who you are Doctor Potter. I should have known that tomb exploring was right down your alleyway."

"Yes, I'm sure that you would have thought so," Harry said and there was something extremely curious about this new arrival.

Not nearly as curious as the temple looked. The temper was had a distinct Kryptonian influence. There were also a few other influences added to the temple. He was almost certain that this was an abandoned alien spaceship that a King refitted for his own purpose, not quite certain what he had.

* * *

"There is a lot of mystery and intrigue surround this temple," Shayera said, when they explored the insides hours later. "Many have tried to break in to steal the artifacts inside but…."

"And many haven't been successful," Harry said and he wondered how much of this temple/ship was missed. Few of these details were in the notes that Doctor Sandsmark gave to them.

There were many details that had been yet to be unearthed. Harry hoped to overturn some things during his time down here.

"But a couple have been too successful, and that leads us to the fact that some people left their lives behind and joined them," Shayera said.

Helena, being the detective, jumped onto this straight away. "Joined who?"

"The cult, they want to bring back the old order from Egypt's past to the modern world, and they don't care who they have to sacrifice to do so," Shayera said. She shuddered at the thought of those monsters. "I know, they sound like real winners, but they're gaining a movement by each passing day. Their members are more fanatic, either you're with them, or against them."

"No respect for neutrality," Harry said to her.

"None, they've killed people who have entered this temple," Shayera said grimly.

Harry could tell that there was some kind of dangerous and charismatic leader at large immediately. It was always like that in this situation.

"So, the remains aren't from this mysterious temple, rather they're from….the cultists?" Karen asked, and she tried to wrap her mind around that thought.

"Yes, in part, but I'm sure that some of them are from messing around artifacts that were far beyond their comprehension," Shayera said and she placed her hand down onto the wall. It was more of an absent minded action than anything. The woman hoped not to activate it. "This temple…it was almost like someone rammed several pieces of ancient alien technology together…."

"Yeah, I got that impression as well," Karen said, whistling when she looked over the technology of the temple.

"Do you know anything about this?" Harry asked. He thought that there was something off about Shayera, but he didn't know what.

'_What are you thinking?' _Diana asked to Harry.

'_I'll know in a minute, when she confirms it,' _Harry said, there was something about wearing a bulky overcoat in the desert that seemed odd.

"Parts of this ship is from a race known as the Kryptonians, not much is known of them, although there were rumors that their planet was destroyed," Shayera said.

Karen frowned, perhaps it was just her imagination, but they were not the only ones who fished for information. At least from what Shayera was saying. She might have spent too much time around Helena and Harry. It made her properly paranoid.

"And parts of this ship are from a race known as Thanagarians, some of whom who are reborn every generation, after dying, in increasingly brutal and violent ways," Shayera added. "The metal in this temple is the hardest metal in the universe…"

"Nth metal…"

"Yes, it can repel magic, or enhance it depending on how you engineer it," Shayera said. "Of course, given the natural properties, tinkering with it to enhance magic takes an extremely skilled hand. It has a very strong likelihood to blow up in a person's face."

"I see," Harry said. "And the staff…would the metal increase the metal degradation?"

"Yes," Shayera said without skipping a beat. "Sorcery is not something that should be fooled around with, and when mixed with technology, there is an even more dangerous fact to think about."

Harry agreed with that, he did think about that.

"At least someone has their head on straight because of things like that," Harry said. If more people would have learned this lesson, he wouldn't have had half of the headaches he did.

"There's just something about you four…..you're not from around here…."

"We're not natives of Egypt," Helena said. The bluntness of her statement was almost comical.

Shayera waved off her words. "That's not what I meant…but I guess there's just something different about you, I can't put my finger on it…"

Was it something alien? She couldn't really tell. Then again, she had room to talk given what she was. She hoped to find answers that would end the endless cycle that she had been trapped in for a thousand years, death and destruction.

Others managed to break the cycle, her mate for several cycles finally found peace, but Shayera did not. That fact alone made her think that her mission was not done yet. Each life ended, but this one was the first that she woke up in a new life alone and truly the last of her kind.

Meanwhile, Harry gazed upon the temple and frowned when he looked over it. There was something that he couldn't pinpoint about what was happening. Perhaps he overlooked some vital piece of information that would blow the lid off of his past. What exactly happened when he was sent through the veil. Those strange feelings of Deja-Vu he felt when he met up with Karen.

Was it possible that he got reincarnated somehow from another life? That would explain a lot.

Before he could think too clearly about this, something rumbled to life over his shoulder. The young man stood still and heard something.

They didn't know what that is, but it wasn't good.

* * *

"So this is what you talked about earlier, wasn't it?" Diana asked and her eyes looked over the statues which slowly came to life.

Harry groaned, he should have seen this one coming. He did see this one coming.

Their meeting got cut short and there was a loud rumble around them. Shayera turned towards them and she was at a loss to what could have activated them. Unless there was more than these five roaming around the temple, which was an extremely possible thing.

The redhead arched her neck forward and looked up high. She leaned herself back and gave a pressing sigh in response.

"They're not too friendly," Karen said and without another word, she reared her arm back and plastered one of the statues.

The pieces of debris flew when the blonde's fist cracked into the statue. The blonde stepped back and viewed the fruits of her labor. She couldn't be too pleased with herself, there was a lot to do.

"Yes, that's what I talked about earlier," Harry said, and he dodged the large iron mace that one of the statues swung. He used his knowledge of the Quidditch field, where he manipulated many of stupid adversaries against each other. They smashed the iron maces into each other and they crumbled down to the ground. "You know, I have this rather abusive relationship with Ancient Runes, I don't know why…..I don't know how…"

Shayera ripped one of the maces from the hand of one of the stone creatures and smashed it into the chest of him.

"But they just activate when I'm around," Harry said, half watching Diana take them out one at a time. Their only purpose seemed to be for destructive strategy, they didn't seem to have any capability for any strategy, which was just as well. "I have no idea why…"

"Well, gives us a work out," Karen said and she speared one of them into the wall.

"You know, I'm beginning to think that magic just has it out for me, just by living, but maybe I'm imagining things," Harry said, seeing a bolt of light shoot at him.

Harry dodged it, perhaps he wasn't imagining. He pulled himself up and slammed his fist down onto the back of the head of his enemy.

"For fuck's sake," Karen grumbled and she was beginning to get annoyed by these things on sheer principle.

"My thoughts exactly," Shayera said and she yanked the mace away from one of the warriors. She swung it with expert ability and knocked the statues over like they were nothing. They toppled down onto the ground like toppled bowling pins.

"Not too bad," Harry cheered and Shayera could not help, but flash him a smile in response. She wound up for the pitch and slammed one out of the park.

"Thanks, not too bad yourself," Shayera said.

The two of them fought side by side. The numbers dwindled down.

"They seem to have it out for you," Shayera commented.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that magic hates me," Harry said and he blew up the statues so they didn't reform. He scattered the dust particles to further make sure. "But you know what; I'm not having a very good relationship with it right about now either, so it's just as well."

Harry blew them up something really nice and everything settled back to a crawl. He bent down onto one knee.

"Well on the bright side, I didn't suffer any horrific injuries like the last time statues came to life and tried to kill me," Harry said and Karen and Helena leaned down to hold him up. He smiled in response when he looked over his shoulder at them. "Thank you, but I'm okay, really I'm okay."

"Are you really okay?" Karen asked and she could see Harry's penetrating gaze fire onto her body. "Okay, you're fine."

Harry only had one word to respond. "Exactly."

"Okay, that was an eventful part of my day, but…..that raises more questions than answers," Shayera said and Karen whistled and shook her head.

"Maybe, maybe not, statues like that would have to be programmed, because look," Karen said and she saw bits of the electrical components frazzle to a crisp.

"I see," Shayera said, and she looked over the technology. Someone had been in this temple and redecorated a little bit over the years.

Harry was in one of those moods. It was simply because really the more that he knew, the less that he understood. And the less he understood, the more frustrated the he got. This combination of science and sorcery gave him a splitting headache.

"Yes, but how do you explain that?" Harry asked and he turned over towards a wall, with a glowing symbol on it. "Help me find a direct power source if you can?"

Karen's eyes traveled over the wall and scanned for any power source that she could find. She saw nothing, not even a microchip. This entire mission went to finding answers about the staff, but it moved into something else entirely.

'_I think that we found some answers,' _Karen replied smoothly and swiftly. Her chest inhaled and exhaled. _'It just isn't the ones that we wanted.'_

Shayera frowned when she looked at all of them. She hadn't had a good battle like this in a long time and she knew that they would ask questions later about how well she fought. The redhead already came up with a cover story in her mind to work around that. She just wasn't really sure if any of this group would buy it.

"There's something extremely fishy going on around here," Harry said and he placed his hand onto the wall.

Diana let in a breath. "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

"No," Harry bluntly told her, but at this point, they needed answers more than they needed to worry about safety.

His eyes focused on the temple. He would find out these answers no matter what the risk was.

And he knew that one person in their party knew a few more answers than she was telling. It was time to bring things around.

* * *

A loud humming could be heard with a group of individuals walked around in a random and extremely creepy manner and circled each other. They stood by each other and locked hands with each other.

They surrounded a flaming platform and looked on forward. The flames shot up and they looked transfixed, to the fact that they worshipped it. There was an extremely long pause, before a figure stepped out.

This figure wore a dark black robe that extended past the ground. The only thing that was visible was his eyes that showed milk white slits. He passed the men and two others dragged a woman who was tied up next to them on the platform. She squirmed and begged for mercy. There was no mercy for the treason that she's caused the rest of the cult.

"No, please don't, no, I believe, I believe!" she yelled with horror dancing through her voice.

No one dared to help her, because anyone who may have dared to help her would have shared her fate. The horror that went through the woman's eyes boiled was an emotion that chilled hardened men to the bone. That being said, they dragged her like she was a piece of garbage and threw her in the center of the circle.

The cult members closed ranks around her, and the leader stepped forward, and climbed up next to the flaming platform.

"All bow before the might of our savior, who is coming," the cult leader said and he raised his arms into the air. "They will all cleanse the world of the wicked nature of modern civilization."

A crack of thunder almost punctuated his words on cue and terror filled the face of the young woman. She curled up on the ground and shook like a leaf in a tree. She wasn't about to free herself from this predicament that she was in.

"There before us lies a sinner!"

The woman shrieked and tried to get up, but two of the large men who dragged her in pushed her down onto the ground. They pulled her limbs back like she was nothing and held her down into place.

"This sinner refused to follow the light, and as a result, she will be cast into the darkness," one of them whispered and another thunder crack rose up from the sky.

"Feel the power that we hold and tremble before us," the man whispered and he dropped down to the ground. The woman's head lifted up and she shook her head completely in defiance.

"Please, note, you're killing people, this isn't right…"

"I only do what is necessary for our savior, and we pay tribute to her, the mighty Phoenix," the cult leader said and he pulled a large knife from his cloak. He waved it in front of the woman's face who trembled and about threw herself into a fit of some sort.

"Please no, please no, please no, please no," she begged and she was scared to death.

"Your children already were punished for your defiance, and now it was your turn," the cult leader whispered and he drew the blade of the knife across his own finger and dropped it into the fire.

The flames flashed up and the cultists clapped in response.

"Do you swear undying loyalty to the Phoenix?" the man whispered and he bent down and clutched her around the face.

"I can't…my children…."

"Your children were unneeded, they were a distraction," the cult leader said without any remorse in his voice.

The woman looked at him, with fury in her eyes. "YOU BASTARD!"

He slapped her hard down to the ground.

"Be silent," the man whispered, wrapping his hand around her throat when he forced her onto the ground."You don't dare call me. I am the messenger of a god. Therefore I own your soul, do you hear me?"

"The Phoenix never chose you, you took her name in vain," the woman whispered and she felt blood trickle down her mouth. The warm taste of it flowing from her mouth nearly gagged her.

"Lies, I won't accept them, not in my world," the cult leader whispered and he let her go, for a moment.

She would appreciate oxygen long enough before they killed her.

"I will lead them to a promise land, the world has gone soft, and the people in this world along with it," the cult leader said and he leaned down and scratched her face. "And you're one of them who has grown the softest of them all, haven't you?"

"No, I believe in the Phoenix, it's just that I don't believe that some mass murderer has chosen her…."the woman whispered, her dark hair framing her face, with the trickles of blood splashing from her mouth.

"Useless harlot," the leader said coldly as he slammed his fist down on her back and forced her down onto her face. "I'm not amused by your tongue, especially when it could be better served for other things."

The man lifted her up with surprising strength and threatened to drop her down to the pit of jagged rocks below the platform.

He turned and made an about face. Holding her by the back of her head, he marched her over to the burning platform.

The cultists watched as their leader rubbed the betrayers face into the burning hot embers. Her screams unsettled a few of them, but none were willing to speak up, because they didn't want to share their fate.

"The winged demon approaches," the cult leader whispered and he waved his hand. "You cannot be saved forever…."

The woman fell backwards onto the ground and screamed, her face severely burned from what happened. The cult leader walked into the night, with his followers.

The man in the hooded robes watched, he had been after this one for quite some time. Each life of hers, it was destined to end by his hand. One cheated him out of his victory by breaking the cycle, but this meant that he would have to continue the cycle by killing her more brutally this round.

This Phoenix Force they worshipped, he wished to obtain her remarkable power. That's why he usurped their cult and only imprisoned their previous leader so they could get knowledge of what power he could hold. There would need to be a sacrifice at the proper time, and he would obtain ultimate power.

He would not die in this cycle along with the hawks, his life would be eternal, and he would live forever. The world would tremble before his might.

* * *

Shayera's rage boiled over when he came across a woman being tortured by the cult, who narrowly escaped her wrath once again. She realized who stirred up these fanatics even more, and knew that time was of the essence to put a stop to them.

The same thing happened for as long as she could remember, again and again. The man was driven insane by the cycle in his own right, in his own way. Only he was already bent when the cycle started and Shayera thought about that when he held the woman in her arms, her tearful eyes streaming again.

She'd like to say that this was going to be alright, but Shayera couldn't bring it to herself to comfort the woman with empty words. Her face was severely burned, but that was minored compared to what he wanted to do to her. The cultists followed him.

She really wished to say that some did it completely out of fear, but others they did it out of devotion. They believed that he could take them to the promise land and get them what they wanted, get them what they desired.

Not realizing for the simple fact that he wasn't going to do anything that didn't benefit himself. Shayera learned that numerous lifetimes ago.

"Just lie still," she said, she kept her voice oddly calm and tranquil even though her hands shook. She held them down on the top of the woman's face.

The woman closed her eyes and shuddered when Shayera checked over her burns. The damage was quite extensive.

"What the hell happened?"

Harry showed up and Shayera nearly turned around and took his head off with the mace. He caught it in his hands before she hit him. That was fairly impressive in its own right.

"Easy now, I'm on your side," Harry said, making sure to hold the mace steadily. When he was sure that Shayera wouldn't knock his head back across the Atlantic, he released his grip on the mace.

She took her breath.

"Yes, I can see that," Shayera said calmly. She was on a hair trigger temper. "Sorry about that, it's just the cult…..the cult happened."

Shayera ran her fingers down the face of the woman and tried to apply cream to heal her burns. She would need to get out of the country and into medical care fast.

'_I found something…..' _Helena said and stopped.

'_Helena we need your help, we've got an injury,' _Harry thought. Whatever Helena found, it would have to wait until later, much later. This was a matter that approached great and present urgency.

Harry looked at the woman who painfully rested on the cot. She looked stricken beyond all terror and her face burned.

"My babies, my babies," she whispered underneath her breath and Shayera's eyes darkened several shades. Harry wasn't much better in keeping his anger in check, there was only one reason for these words and they all knew it.

Moments later, Helena turned up and saw the woman lying on the cot that Shayera set up in her tent outside.

'_Just to let you know, there were some creepy looking people lurking around on the outside of the tent,' _Karen thought.

"There's some…..the cultists, they might be lurking around outside the tent," Harry informed Shayera, the thought of this appeared as if it alarmed her.

She hoped that they didn't find her base of operations, but if they did, well she would take care of it sometime.

"So, how did you find her…..and bring her back this quickly?" Harry asked and Shayera stepped back to allow Helena to do her work.

An awkward moment of silence presented itself.

"I guess that I better come clean, even though you've already figured out what happened, didn't you?" Shayera asked and Harry nodded in response. "I'm Shayera Hol of Thanagar, at least I am in this life."

"So, you've been through things like this before," Harry said and Shayera nodded.

"I'll stay with her, the two of you go out and see if there's any smoke to what Karen saw….."

A loud explosion resounded around them and Shayera rushed from the temple suddenly, where she joined Diana and Karen. Harry brought up the rear.

"You have something that belongs to me, hawk," the hooded cult leader whispered, his voice silk and sickly. "And I want her returned….."

"What, so you could sacrifice her in your never ending quest to break the cycle?" Shayera asked and her hands clutched the mace. So tightly, that it was obvious that she imagined them around the cult leaders throat. "Yes, Hath-Set I know that it's you…..but this is a new low…."

"I should have clipped your rights a long time ago," he whispered harshly and he turned and waved his finger over his shoulder. "Now, you're going to suffer the consequences."

Harry wasn't too keen on hearing another villain monologue, so he pulled a throwing dagger out of the sleeve of his costume and flung it at his enemy.

One of the cultists dove behind their leader and took the blow, blunt in the face. Harry thought that they were the definition of fanatical to begin with and this proved it.

"They'll spill my blood for me, and they'll spill your blood for me," he whispered and he pointed to the cultists, who had high tech alien weapons. Three simple words punctuated his next statement. "Eradicate them all."

"You know, for people who want to bring the world to more simpler times, you seem to have no problem using weapons straight out of Star Wars," Karen said, hands clasped firmly on her hips. "But I suppose like most cult leaders, you're nothing but a big flaming hypocrite."

Karen ,Diana, Harry, and Shayera prepared themselves to fight Hath-Set and his cult followers, who raided the various tombs and hit the jackpot thanks to their weapons.

Now it was time to cash in.

**To Be Continued On October 28****th**** 2014.**

* * *

**Hawkgirl makes her grand debut in this arc and we're getting all the pieces in place. **

**Yes, Karen, you are growing more paranoid because of your wife and husband. **


End file.
